Sensei!
by ReddAlice
Summary: Wherever there is Duo, there are complications. Taking a chance, Duo looks to Wufei for relief from his inner demons, and volunteers for a mission were killing children without hesitation isn't his only dilemma.
1. Chapter 1 Assignment

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**S_ensei_**! By ReddAlice

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**Author's Note: **I decided to write Sensei! Just after I finished reading GTO volume 2. Take it, they're nothing like, but I think credit is due. ^^; Amongst my friends I am notorious for not sleeping, I know it's not healthy, but I really hate to sleep. I sometimes go 4-5 days without much more than 2 hours rest.

**Warning: FUTURE WARNINGS - **Stereo Typical Preventers Mission, **Yaoi**, casual Japanese slung around where I see fit, Bad humor, Darkness, Perversion, **Angst**, LIGHT sweetness/fluff (nothing to fattening), and anything else I feel I should toss in for my own amusement! Just about a bit of everything in here, I've got an entire gray scale of emotions bottled up in this story.

**Disclaimer:** _Shin Kidousenki New Mobile War Chronicle Gundam Wing A.C._ was created by _Hajime Yatate & Yoshiyuki Tomino_ and is licensed to Bandai Entertainment, Sunrise, and Satsu Agency. ~-~...If you think I own any prior listed... A psychiatrist and straightjacket is complimentary on your way out. May you get the help need, and _pray_ it's _not_ genetic!****

**Songs: **The Doom Song (Techno remix) - _Invader Zim_, Mad Tea Party - _Disney's Alice in Wonderland_, Kokomo - _The Beach Boys_, Shiroi Yami No Naka - _Shakkazombie_, It's the End of The World - R.E.M.

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_Sensei!_

Chapter 1 - _Assignment_

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_God, what does it take to get a little attention around here!_ Duo bit his tongue between his lips as he worked the lock with his hairpin. _There is _nosuchthing_ as an _un_pickable lock!_ He thought with an exasperated sigh.

Of course, he didn't get a chance to prove it! 

Wufei pulled open the door; his eyes conical, "What do you want?" He demanded tetchily looking down at the crouching man in the hall. 

Leisurely, Duo drug his eyes up Wufei's sleep clothed body starting with his bare feet and easily working up to his unbuttoned jeans, loose white t-shirt, and siesta tousled hair. He looked very much like a miffed panther that had been poked one to many times with a stick. 

Lastly meeting Wufei's less than amused expression, Duo grinned. "Mornin' Wufei!" He stood up brushing off imaginary dust.

"It's not morning." Came the rich growl.

"Sure it is." Said Duo standing up and pointing to his watch. "See, in Beijing it's 8 a.m."

"I'm not _from_ China." The bitter 'Chinese' man retorted, his words running together like a drunkard's. "I was _born_ on a colony-..." Wufei's eyebrow twitched, the gears in his head turned, and his eyes widened in anger. "That means it's _two-in-the-morning!_ _What_ do you _want_ at 2 am!_?"_

Duo pushed past the human obstacle into the apartment, taking in the decorative inside. Not at all what he had expected from Wufei, moderately multihued. "Good place, homey, cozy." He observed, taking off his shoes and setting them by the door with Wufei's. _Some not so Chinese... Chinese man._

Wufei inspected the sight for a minute before shutting the door, he hadn't seen Duo in a few months, he may as well find out what brought him from Earth. He doubted it was just to admire his residence, or just decided to come to L-3 to wake him up. _Or maybe he did._ Wufei frowned.

As Wufei's mouth opened, Duo began to explain himself. "I can't sleep." 

"You traveled for 12 hours aboard a shuttle to come tell me you couldn't sleep? How long have you been up?" Wufei gaped thoughtlessly.

With serious intent in his eyes, Duo shrugged and went back to closely scrutinizing a wall tapestry. "Hey, Pattes de Valours?" Wufei nodded. "It's nice, _a little tacky_, but nice."

"You go ahead and inspect _and_ criticize_-_" he added sharply  "my wall hangings, I have to report to the office 'in the morning,' and I am going back to sleep." Wufei mumbled stalking past Duo who said something inaudible. Stopping, Wufei turned back to look at his unwelcome guest. Duo's head hung low, his eyes focusing on the carpet. "_What_ was that Duo?"

With more assurance, Duo looked up. "Can I sleep with you?" 

The Chinese man who did _not_ hale from china, choked.

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"Here... I'll go sleep on the couch."

"Wufei, don't go..."

"What?"

"I don't want to sleep alone..."

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Quatre raised an eyebrow at Trowa unenthusiastically; the man was concerned, now why couldn't he admit it! "I know Wufei has never been late before, but he's allowed to do it once in a while. He's human after all." Quatre assured him grumpily.

Trowa paused and considered turning the car around, but dismissed the idea as soon as he parked. "We're already here, and _he_ volunteered for the assignment!" He reasoned.

"I guess so."

Inside, Quatre found it hard to keep up with his long legged friend who climbed the stairs with ease. "There's an elevator you know!" He yelled after him.

"I know."

Quatre frowned and stopped, "Yes, and I am going to take it." He breathed opting for a door to his left.

One floor up Trowa waited for him in the hall. The elevator doors slid open with a quiet ding, and Quatre stepped out.

Trowa smirked, "Now wasn't that pointless."

"No. My legs we're about to come unhinged." Quatre grumbled combing his blonde hair with his fingers. Unfortunately he had caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective surface of a landscape portrait. "Ugh!"

"You look fine."

"No I don't look fine." Quatre retorted sourly. "I look like I fell out of the car and rolled under the tire. I hate mornings. That's it... I quit."

Trowa turned on his heels and allowed himself a secret laugh; Quatre abhorred any activities before noon, let alone a mandatory meeting. "You don't quit."

"You watch me." Quatre growled gliding past Trowa to Wufei's door. "Wufei! Open up! Or I am going to _kill_-"

A door across the hall creaked open, an old woman's wide eye floating just below a weak chain. "Shh." She hissed.

Quatre stomped his foot, "Don't tell me to shush!" He snarled flinging his arms above his head.

Trowa apologetically looked to the woman who glared at him and shut the door, "Quatre... I agree... sh... I know your tired, but... don't you think you're being a little..."

"A little what?" Quatre said slowly, the skin at his temple taut with warning. "Hmn? What?"

Trowa shook his head. "Nothing."

The corners of Quatre's mouth twitched as he tried the doorknob; to his surprise, the door was open. 

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Cautiously, Quatre pushed open the door. "It's unlocked."

"If he was lucky, he was knocked unconscious by an intruder." Trowa whispered.

"What, Trowa?"

"Nothing."

The apartment was dark, the only light filtering through the tine openings between each panel of the white shades covering the window.

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Wufei's ear ticked, someone was in his apartment. If it was Heero... Wufei unwrapped his friend's limbs from around his waist and slid out of bed.

_Wufei rolled over to look at Duo, when he had first gotten into bed nearly two hours ago he did everything in his power to put as much mattress as possible between the two _male_ bodies. It had just occurred to him to ask. "Duo?"_

_The bundle of red comforter and loose brown braid contracted and groaned its acknowledgment sleepily. _

_"Duo, why did you come all this way to see me? Why me? Quatre and Trowa are working here too... why not them?" He whispered. Why was he whispering? It was _his_ bedroom, his bed, and _his_ apartment for Christ's sake._

_Duo sat up, the blanket falling away from his bare chest, and slanted a look at Wufei through his veil of hair. He appeared alert, ready to dress and abscond; he appeared unwanted. "Do you want me to go?" His voice was cool, smooth, without attachments or warnings. _

_Still... Those eyes unnerved Wufei. He needed sleep, but his mind was awake, and his body... well his body was uncomfortable. Yes, yes he wanted him to leave, but he didn't want to send him away. "I wouldn't have let you _stay_ if I wanted you to _leave_." Wufei growled  turning back over._

_The bed shifted subtly, and lengthy arms engulfed him. "Thanks Wufei." Duo murmured into his ear, his face resting entirely in the slope of Wufei's neck. _

_Wufei stiffened feeling awkward, Duo's gesture was much deeper than friendly, almost sexual, but not quite. It was confusing, and he could understand how some people couldn't make the distinction when in the same situation. _

_It took him a few minutes to relax under his friend's weight and put his head back down on the pillow completely. "It's no concern." Wufei finally replied. He felt Duo tighten his embrace gently to let him know he had heard, and the two fell asleep._

Switching off the safety to his gun, Wufei pulled his bedroom door shut quietly, and visually probed the hall for intruders. Usually he wouldn't sully himself using such a weapon, but honestly... the only time he had fought was alone; he had only had to protect himself. Under any other circumstances he would have snatched a dadao off his wall and prepared to attack whomever was possibly looting his home.  

He heard the voices before the familiar figures came in to sight. 

Quatre and Trowa were inspecting his walls in the dark. 

"Who is that?"

Quatre felt the wall hanging, "Pattes de Valours... I think. Late nineteenth century. Slightly tacky... but nonetheless nice." _Duo had said the same thing._

Wufei lowered his gun; he _had_ contemplated shooting them just for entering his home at such an ungodly hour- his eyes instinctively gravitated to the red glow of his clock on the hall nightstand. 9 AM! 

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Trowa and Quatre turned to look at the source of the vicious multilingual profanities.

Quatre gave a meek smile, "Good Morning Wufei." 

The swift shift in Quatre's mood elicited a formidable grunt from Trowa.

Wufei shook his head, "No, it most certainly isn't a good morning." -Or it had been until that damned clock. Why couldn't he live in Beijing? 

"Oh don't worry about being late." Quatre said, "We postponed the meeting till 10, and decided to come get you just to be sure." Trowa eyed Quatre. _We?_

Reaching for a light switch, Wufei nodded. "All right then. Would you mind if I showered? Then we can leave."

"Of course." Quatre mumbled examining the walls entirely now that he could see with out hindrance. 

Wufei excused himself, put the gun away, and retreated towards the bathroom.

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Shortly after, Wufei reemerged binding his damp hair back with a small black elastic band, fully clothed, and holding a folder in his teeth. He nodded mumbling something that sounded like lets go, and went to the door to slip on his shoes.

Quatre moved towards the door and stopped when Wufei's eyes landed on a pair of red sneakers, and then on Quatre's. He had worn them inside, on his carpet, and hadn't even noticed until Wufei silently reprimanded him for it. "I'm sorry, Wufei." He apologized sheepishly. "I forgot."

"It's fine." He said graciously and escorted his company out in the hall, locked the door, and left for work, Duo Maxwell the furthest from his mind.

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Duo leisurely prodded him-self from the posh, exaggeratedly comfortable bed (which he affectionately named God) and climbed into the shower.

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Wufei irritably drummed his fingers on the table thinking; only half listening to Lady Une dry sounding babble. Maybe Heero had kicked Duo out of their apartment? What could that idiot have done to make Yui so irate? Assuming he was irate, and that is what had happened.

"And that's why we've been enlisted." Une was saying.

A man in back stood up and frowned, "I'm not a baby-sister." He barked. Wufei looked up recognizing the man as Edward Leeza, the man he was supposed to work with.

Edward Leeza had been one of the first soldiers procured for the Preventers; he was barely twenty, tall, soft round features, brunette, and rather wide expressive hazel eyes. It was hard to believe he had been third male in command... only after Zechs Marquise. 

For such an important and educated man, he wasn't well manner, nor was he particularly friendly. "I don't want to watch little boys, I don't even like children." He admitted freely.

Lady Une allowed herself the small relief of an exasperated sigh, "He's not a little child, _Mr._ Leeza. He's 17. It is by no means baby-sitting and is perfectly well within your jurisdiction. You signed up, you will follow orders."

"Like hell I will." Leeza growled. "This isn't what I had in mind when I spoke with you."

Lady Une smiled indistinctly, "I was surprised myself, but it's important that we keep the faith of the political leaders, who will in turn garner support, and keep the peace... _now_ more than _ever_." She was indirectly referring to the uprising groups of rebels claiming that Relena had been working secretly with dirty-handed politicians, specifically Aaron Thret, to disarm the masses and gain control over unsuspecting people's lives. They had called her a communist, Thret a terrorist, and Wufei knew more than half couldn't comprehend the words they spewed.

"Mr. _Leeza_..." Lady Une began with lazy tone. "You _will_ cooperate..." She smiled pleasantly "Or I _will_ _make_ you." She could be a very redoubtable opponent when necessary, or just when she didn't want to do extra paper work and assign Wufei a new partner.

"I'd like to see you try." Edward spat sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms, he looked like a child himself.

"I would grant your wish if we had someone qualified to _replace_..."-she let the word linger bitterly in the air -"you." She stood up. "As you can see from the few men around you, there are none. They all have previous obligations, and are sitting in here for _your_ benefit, to provide _you _with information and ideas from their various backgrounds, and professions to do _your_ job." Her eyes swept across group. "We have no one else to spare."

Just then an obscenely pleased voice piped up, the door shutting with a wall-rattling slam. "What about me?"

Lady Une stared at Duo standing in front of the door wearing his most disarming smile, he had never liked her, and she had never liked him. "Mr. Maxwell." She addressed, something registering in the depths of her eyes. "_What_ about you?"

"I can do it." He said with a shrug.

"What makes you think that?" Lady Une asked sitting down.

"Because I can." Duo reasoned, "That and I am more 'qualified'"-he surrounded the world with air quotes-"than that kid there."

Edward frowned, "I'm twenty."

"_So_..." Duo drawled, "I'm 18 and _you_ are _still_ wet behind the ears kid."

Wufei fought the urge to laugh, but rather than fall in step he fell behind a cool mask of indifference. Duo was a good man, a good fighter, a serious and generous friend, a superior actor, but his severe emotions could be a weakness. In the battlefield they were about to ascend on... there was no gundanium barrier separating you from the anger and scared eyes of the adversaries they would have to face, and possibly kill. Would Duo be able to kill a child scarcely younger then him? Some even acting on foreign commands like a puppet. 

"I'd like to ask everyone to please step out." Lady Une voiced, her eyes falling on Wufei. "Everyone but Mr. Chang, Maxwell, and Mr. Leeza."

Once Quatre and Trowa left, Lady Une reseated herself. As if a mask had been dropped, her posture and face became more personable and responsive. "You're not a Preventer anymore, Duo, and this mission is imperative." She warned. "If you're going to do this... there are going to be many things that you will have to do without hesitation that can leave intense scars on a human."

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"You forget you use to call me a terrorist." Duo said contemptuously. "What should you care as long as I can do it?"

Lady Une narrowed her eyes. Use to call him at terrorist? She still did! "Duo could you kill a child... someone just like you when you were 15? Or maybe someone who is unconditionally innocent just because they're standing in the way of your objective and make it so they were never found? As if they never existed." 

Duo didn't have to think it over. No he couldn't kill someone so coldheartedly, but he lied despite the consequences it would have in the near future. "Yes, I've done it before."

"Alright." She gave a brisk nod and looked towards Edward Leeza, who sat stiffly, his face ghastly pale. There was no need to question aloud what he was thinking. He was mulling over the many stories he had heard of the fierce Gundam Pilots. Mortified that what Duo had said was true, and he had in fact murdered little innocent children for merely being in the wrong place and the wrong time, his face continued to interchange between ill and nervousness. 

Even before giving her consent to Duo, Lady Une knew he had been insincere, and she was grateful for it. "You may leave, Edward." Leeza got up and departed promptly.

"You resigned. Duo, you're not a Preventer anymore, remember?" Because the pilot she knew would get the job done, even if it was unorthodox, even if she despised him for it and was constantly reminded of the searing remarks he loudly voiced in earshot because of a verbal injury she had inflicted days earlier, she knew he would be successful. Privately... she was grateful he was so nosy, yet she loathed him representing the paperwork she would have to do after this meeting.

Duo grinned at her, "I am now."

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To Be Continued with **Chapter 2: **_The First Day_

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**Ending Note**: As you can also see it's considerably longer than most chapter/sections/parts I write to any one fic. That's because this story is a bit more active in comparison to my others; I've got a main story and a few sub-plots being entertained here and there for our pleasure. Sensei! Has been sitting on my computer for well over three months before I got the umph to write five pages today and post it. So it is roughly unedited and I'd seriously appreciate all criticism, CORRECTIONS, and opinions... or rather... I honestly expect it of those who read this chapter and those to come. I love hearing from you, and not a single word you give falls to the deaf... or in my case blind. Give me something to mull over already! See you again in chapter 2!

What pairings would you like to see? I know it's set up for 1x2x1 or 2x5x2... but anything's possible and I wanna know what ya think, lovies! Inspire me... muse(?!) me!


	2. Chapter 2 The First Day

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**S_ensei_**! By _Redd_Alice Mika Maeko Thret

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**Author's Note: **Back in the first chapter I have decided to change the location of Wufei and the other Preventers to L3. For note, Quatre is not a Preventer, but a practical correspondent, while Wufei and Trowa are. Also I wanted to note that this story is set at a slow pace to give the feeling of familiarity. I hope you'll all stick with me and bombard me with suggestions, ideas, criticism, and even flames if necessary! Any attention is good attention! ~Über long chapter, twice chapter 1's size! Chapters will vary on size and content~

**Disclaimer**: Darryl Albin, Wren Llawcae, Kiyakotari Kimaki, Talon Lywis, and Blake Owens are all original characters created by my dear friend Kiyakotari whom I have borrowed because my baby name book is warn out, so is my brain. May she forgive the abuse I am about to put Darryl through, though he deserves it. As for the names: Grace M. Bouma, Morgan E. Burkett, Lauren King, Anna-li Deboer, and Jae M. Siguaw are the names of my closest group of IRL friends. They've been kind enough to allow me the usage of their names or characters because I'm lazy, all coolness of these characters is solely their gift and I'd like to personally thank them! (Not that they'd ever read this... but that's not the point). As for everyone else...they're either Gundam Wing characters (who I don't own... to my bitter dismay) or mine. There will be no further disclaimers; this one applies for every chapter HENCEFORTH!  

**Songs: **Going Under** - **_Evanescence_, Gessakai - _Nightwalker_, Aquaria - _Psycho Le Cemu_, Knife Party - _Deftones, _Vanilla - _Gackt_, Messiah - _Yayoi Yula_,

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_Sensei!_

**Chapter 2** - _The First Day_

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It had been quite a while since Duo had worked at the Preventers HQ, since his leave almost two years ago the building had changed significantly. Fortunately the lunchroom where his friend's ate was still in the same place it had always been, right next to the defense vicinity where Duo had played many a video games on the security monitors. 

Lady Une had requested them to eat their meals disjointedly and to only interrelate with their coworkers when required. Many soldiers were still angry, blinded by their losses, and still felt the drive to defeat the enemy that had been carved into their minds. The Gundams. The rift scabbed over, and eventually turned into a scar on the workforce, but it was for the best that the young men formally known as the Gundam Pilots, as _terrorists_, kept their personal affairs, such as friendship with one another behind closed doors; behind the classified entrance of the lunchroom, their own private dinning area.   

He smiled reminiscently. Maybe this is what he needed? An active job! It was something that came natural to him, something he had been doing everyday of his life. Surviving. Now, however, it was a willing game of survival and he was in control. He chose to live precariously, and it felt too good to have his blood pumping through his veins again. It felt good to be alive.

As Duo came around a corner, he ran whole bodily into another solid figure. "Sorry man." Glaring at him stood Edward Leeza, his gaze traversing over Duo's body in an assessive sweep. "_Yes_?"

Verdict flashed in Edward's eyes. "Excuse me." He said with a clandestine smirk, and he sidestepped resumed down the hall at brisk speed.

"Same to you." Duo muttered dusting off invisible Leeza-germs. 

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Quatre glanced up from his soup and waved his spoon. "Glad you founds us Duo, I thought you'd forgotten where the lunchroom was." 

The door slowly fell shut; the wood dragging quietly on the carpet till it clicked. "You wouldn't really execute a kid... now wouldya Wufei?" 

Duo took a seat next to Wufei and made a big show of plopping his red sneakers on the lunchroom table. After a moment the air relaxed in the room.

Shutting his eyes, Wufei leaned back against the hard wood of his chair and laid his chopsticks across the top of his bowl of instant ramen. Would he kill a kid? _Never_. "No, I would never harm a child." Wufei responded carefully, opening his eyes he fixed his face into a neutral expression. "However... I don't consider 15 to 18 year olds children, Duo."

Quatre remained thoughtfully mute, and nodded his acquiesce. How _could_ they consider them children? All of the pilots, and many soldiers, were scarcely young adults when they were marched into battle. To think of them as children they would have to acknowledge that they themselves were still so young...

"Is that so?" Duo asked inattentively, his thoughts apparent as his eyebrow twitched distinctly. "Would you kill me if you had to?" His voice didn't change it remained inquisitively aloof. 

Wufei's mind congested and came barreling to a halt, he felt like he had hit a gundanium wall. "What?" Why would he ask such an asinine question? As he opened his mouth to answer, he found himself unable to utter a word. _Would_ he if he had to? _Would_ he _kill_ his _comrade_? His _friend_? Could he **kill** _Duo_? He couldn't answer, he didn't know.

When Wufei didn't reply, Duo turned his attention back to Quatre and grinned apparently unafflicted. "I could never forget where the lunchroom is, Quatre. Not even if I tried!" 

Instead of laughing, Quatre was staring pensively at his meal. His gaze hardened with his conflicting thoughts. Evidently, he didn't know either.

Duo sighed and shook his head. "I _know_ it's pathetic."

Quatre raised his head to meet Duo's eyes. Did he know why no one could answer and think it was wretched they didn't know?

"Even if I was brained washed, I'd never forget where I could go to legally raid a fridge without a scent to my name."

"So long as you stayed out of my cumquats." An abstract voice responded. Trowa had just come in catching the end of Duo's comment.

Duo scrunched his nose, "_Man_, I wouldn't _dream_ of touching them."

Trowa shrugged, "Good, they're hard to come by."

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"When do we leave?" Duo asked tossing yet another crumpled up candy bar wrapper into the trash beside Wufei's kitchen table, where Wufei sat diligently writing notes on several pieces of paper. Everything today was very food oriented, he decided looking up and smiling. "I hope there's good sushi bars on L1."

Wufei made a face, "I don't like sushi. Raw fish..." He said like the words themselves were poison brought in from a red tide.

"Not all sushi are raw fish, Wufei." Duo informed, waving his hand about airily. "Like my favorite kind of sushi happens to be vegetarian. Kappa maki."

"Kappa?"

Duo bobbed his head, "It's a cucumber sushi wrap."

"Kappa... You're making it up. Isn't a Kappa some sort of demon or monster, Duo?"

"I'm _not_ making it up, Wufei. I have no idea why they call the cucumber sushi Kappa maki... but _they_ _do_." He stated matter-of-factly. 

Wufei looked up from his folder, "Japanese are odd."

Duo didn't miss a beat, "And Chinese aren't?"

"I'm not Chinese, Duo." Wufei said distractedly.

Duo leered towards Wufei, scrutinizing his appearance, "_I_ never said you _were_." When Wufei looked up again to say something back, Duo spoke again. "When do we leave for L1?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, right after we meet up with Lady Une... and Thret."

"Thret... What a last name for someone who supposedly holds no _threat_ to the World Nation." Duo stated far too pleased with him-self.

Wufei stiffed a laugh, and exhaled loudly, but still... Duo had heard him. "Ha-ha... Duo." 

Grinning ear-to-ear, Duo watched him, his eyes glittering. "Yes, yes... that was a ha-ha wasn't it?"

At that, Wufei couldn't _help_ but laugh.

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Wufei crawled into his bed while Duo was in the bathroom adjoined to his bedroom, showering, and singing. Maybe if he fell asleep before his friend climbed in next to him, he would be able to sink into a dreamless existence before that very soft but masculine shape lay next to him.

_What happened between him and Heero? Why is he here? Why would Duo ask me something like that? Why me?_

Drowning in his thoughts, Wufei didn't hear the shower turn off, nor did he notice the time that ticked away before Duo's body pressed up against his back, pulling the covers up around them. He hadn't even felt the bed shift. It startled him. "G'night Wufei." Duo whispered, the hum of his voice spreading gooseflesh along his skin.

A hand slipped around his waist, an uncanny sense of familiarness washed him as a Duo's damn haired head rested against his shoulder blades. It seemed so inimitably affectionate, but so commonplace.

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"Are you sure you have to go?" Trowa asked pitifully indifferent. "It's barely even midnight. Everything will be there when you get back." 

Quatre nodded, "Yes I know, but I have a lot of work back home to do. Besides, if Wufei isn't enough company for you then Duo ought to be."

"No. They're leaving in approximately 15 hours for L1." Trowa shifted topics quickly. This was fine, really it was, it just game him more time to catch up on his work (not that he was behind), and gather his personal affairs (what personal affairs?). "Have enough bags, Quatre?"

Quatre frowned adjusting a small suitcase under his arm, his two briefcases under the other, one bag wrapped around his wrist, and two larger luggage gears in tote at his feet. "You know what? Most of this junk is from the office, I hate taking my work home with me."

Trowa's lips curved up in a clever smile, "Then don't. Your home _is_ your vocation."

With one eyebrow raised, Quatre shot him an undecidedly amused look. "It is isn't it? Nevertheless, if you don't want to see me off... no one _makes you_ come see me off."

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" Trowa asked trying to pry the larger luggage out of his hands.

Quatre beamed genuinely. "A shitty one." He let go. "Thanks." Trowa nodded and lead the way to the terminal where Quatre's shuttle was scheduled to depart from. "You can always call Heero..." Quatre said a little slowly.

"I wouldn't want to bother him and-..." _Duo. _But Duo was with Wufei preparing for an assignment; he gave his deserting friend a quizzical look.

Quatre nodded as if he had read his mind and had been thinking the same thing for centuries, and the slow child's brain had just caught up. "I hadn't thought about that till after Wufei and Duo left. I was a little disappointed that it had taken me so long to realize, and that I hadn't offered Duo a place to stay with me, or at my house here."

"Realize what?"

"Yesterday when we went to Wufei's house and I saw a pair of red sneakers."

Trowa made a obscure face of confusion, "And..."

"Have you ever known Wufei to wear red sneakers, Trowa?" The man shook his head. "Earlier today-"

"It's midnight, it would be yesterday."

Quatre glared, "_Earlier _today-"

"That look doesn't mean it happened _today_." Trowa argued; he took far too much pleasure in agitating his companion.

"It is _today_ until _I've_ been to sleep." Quatre said with dangerous finality that didn't leave a second for reproach, "I noticed when Duo sat down and dropped his shoes on the table that they were the _red shoes_ I spotted. So he's staying with Wufei."

Trowa let the matter lie with that, he didn't want to ask; he didn't want to dip into his friend's private affairs when he himself was submerged in the one leaving him.

_"Flight 391 now boarding passengers 1-20 at station B." _An electronic female voice sounded.

Quatre came to a halt, and looked up at the ceiling as if pinning down the source of the voice to use his laser-glare to murder. "All right, Trowa." He said picking up and setting his belongings on the conveyer belt that led to a storage compartment under the shuttle. Quatre reached down to pick up his larger luggage, but Trowa's grip was white knuckled. 

"I'll see you in two weeks." Trowa said quietly.

Quatre nodded, his features straddling the line of ambivalence and certainty. "Two weeks." He reiterated. "I'll call you next weekend, okay?"

Next weekend? Today was Saturday, what would he do till then? "Fine, next weekend then. Bye, Quatre."

"_Later_, Trowa." Quatre turned on his heals, Trowa watching him as he disappeared behind a pair of silver sliding doors and down a small passage towards the shuttle. 

Trowa waited until the shuttle had taken off before he turned back towards his vehicle, and even then he took his time feeling at a loss. 

~$~$~$- Office, Noon-$~$~$~$~

Duo and Wufei slipped into the boardroom undetected in time to hear the end of Aaron Thret's interminable speech. 

"-It's deplorable to see _children_ playing solider, children playing politicians, councilors in their own court, trying to meddle in affairs they can't understand." Wufei cleared his throat to announce their arrival to which Une looked up pained. "They're to naïve"-he continued "-to try and garner such power, they don't understand they'll destroy themselves if they fight us. Children can't be soldiers." Duo flopped in a chair stridently; his intent plain to Wufei, and Thret shot a look over his left shoulder to check on the interlopers, and then turned his eyes back to Lady Une. "You have guests, Lieutenant Une."

She nodded and stood up from her seat, her body stiff from sitting. "Aaron, this is Duo Maxwell and Wufei Chang. "

"Yes, I see." The man said nodding in their general direction.

"They're the Gundam Pilots, the Preventers that will be assisting you."

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

It took every once of the discipline Thret had not to bash Lady Une's feeble head into the table. Did she listen to a word he said? Gundam Pilots!? They were so young! Children should not be controlling the fates of others when they themselves can't handle pre-pubescence! "Madam, I am sure this is some misunderstanding. They look narrowly older then my son and the people who threaten him."

Lady Une nodded, "They're only a few months older than your son." She said to educate the distressed man. "These boys fought your war when they were children, and now they are here, young adults, and are going to be assisting you in fighting a bigger war on a smaller scale." 

"Excuse me?" Wufei asked. What did she mean? _His_ war? Could it be because Thret and him were both colonist? _Bigger war_? _Smaller scale_? 

Lady Une ignored him. "You see... you wanted the best..."

A surge of pride filled Duo. _The best_... "That's right." He chimed unable to snuff out his glee. "And we _are _the best."

Thret gaped at the braided thing and it's mouth.

"That's right." Wufei consoled frostily. "He speaks." 

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

"How do you suppose to pass these... _kids_ off as teachers?" Thret demanded.

Lady Une folded her hands, her eyes narrowed attentively. "Monday is the first day of school for Inganno Academy, the institute your son attends. Am I correct, Aaron?"

"Yes you are, Lieutenant Une. I fail to see your point." 

"Mr. Maxwell will be attending the first day as a professor. Mr. Chang will drift away in the student body and befriend your... offspring." She said in distaste.

Duo sat up, "Wait. _I'm_ the teacher? I thought we were both going in as faculty." Wufei looked at him and shrugged, he had known this all along.

"Bottom line is, _Thret_, no one will question this. New students and new teachers filter in and out of that school every year, nothing will appear odd when they appear separately on the first day of school." 

Thret pulled back his lip in an offensive snarl, "And what is this..."-pointing at Duo-"_hippie _going to teach? Art?"

"No, he'll instruct History, a few extracurricular activities, clubs, and one writing-"

"This will never work. I should have never called _you_, _Une_... you incompetent-"

His words were chopped short by the sound of Lady Une's hands coming down flat on the desk as she jolted up from her chair, her professional lady-like demeanor melting away into that of a lieutenant, a face that had been put away for many years. "How _dare_ you speak to me in such a tone." She roared. "You impudent _little_ man. I suggest you cease and desist before I have either of the two men behind you dispose of you, should you be lucky that I don't loose my temper and get to you first. You forget whom you speak to."

Silence.

"I-I..." Thret sputtered. Lady Une sat back down, and tilted her head to listen. "How d-dare _you_ speak to _me_ like that!"

Wufei had nearly forgotten the tactics Lady Une could use when prompted. Preventers were beyond the government as long as they stood just outside of society. They were still just tools. Preventers didn't follow the rules; they did what was necessary when necessary... they were to be prepared for anything... for everything.

"Remember whose hands your son's welfare rests in, Aaron..." She drawled prettily. "We would not want either of the men behind you to suddenly forget their skills when protecting your son. You trusted his life to me, the contract _is_ signed_, and_ now it is a matter of keeping the peace, a job for the Preventers, not for you." 

That ended it, and left Duo confused. He was going to be the teacher and _Wufei_ was going to be a student? Why hadn't he paid more attention before he barged in on that meeting! Maybe Edward Leeza was better suited for this job after all. 

Thret left in a flustered rush and Duo made a face; there was one thing he wanted to ask Lady Une. "Why?" 

Une's eyebrow simply twitched upward slightly and she turned for the door. "Wufei will finish the details today and tomorrow.  

~$~$~$---$~$~$~$~

"Have everything, Mr. Maxwell?"

"I didn't bring anything with me."

"I see... the bureau has provided you with clothes appropriate of your task, they'll be in you residence on L-1, along with anything else you need to maintain an ordinary and _orderly _façade." 

~$~$~$---$~$~$~$~

"What exactly is the mission? Are we going in there to watch a kid?"

"Not exactly Duo... It's our job as Preventers to keep small-scale resistances, fires if you will, from erupting and spreading like wild to other areas. We don't want another war. His Excellency didn't die in vain. Your mission is to protect the son of Aaron Thret from the rebel group rooted in that very academy. Nothing like a murder or kidnapping to draw attention to their cause… Their young adults, Duo, like you. We want to keep this hushed, we don't want to help advertise now do we?"

"Nope."

"Since the end of the war Thret has been accused of storing weapons, in allegiance with Ms. Dorland, by conspirers... who also say he desires total pacifisms so when he uses force everyone will be helpless to his advances. Too bad for his biological son he was enrolled in an academy where politics are bred into the children, and these children grow into young adults who fully understand the power they have. They're the future politicians. It's only natural for them to want to act out the changes they want to see. Thret has informed us that his son is in danger because of rumors... but other sources have told us these rumors of a rebel group growing behind the academy's walls in more than true, but a harsh reality waiting to lash out. It's brimming. I want you to protect his son and gather information on what goes on inside the walls. Mika should be the eye of the storm, and when the time comes, you will defuse the situation discreetly using any means necessary. This isn't a normal mission..."

"You could say that again. I don't understand the importance of a little bit of school issues, every school has them."

"This is different. Any questions, Mr. Maxwell?"

"Biological son?"

"Thret has two other children, older and in the working force, both of which are his children by marriage. Mika's Stepbrothers."

"Any ties to the school?"

"Dismissed..."

"Okay then... lets get this ball on the roll."

~$~$~$-Off to L1 they go, _hi-de-hi-de-ho_!-$~$~$~$~

The four-hour shuttle ride was reasonably uninterrupted, and the flight attendees were instructed to keep their distance from them so they could rest. It was calm, but irritating. Duo turned the dial on his disc player and the volume mounted in his head, beating away the silence. 

He watched the stars hanging in the backdrop; so far in the distance they looked like shards of glass glittering on black velvet curtain under the suns glare. Not many sights made him feel so alone, so out of place. As if he was the only living creature with thoughts, and everything was constructed around him. It made him different, and it wasn't an abnormal feeling. Everyone around him had felt the same at one point or another. Wufei had felt the same.

Pursing his lips, Duo pulled the white shutter over the window and sunk back in his chair with his eyes closed. He could feel the space around the ship alter as the shuttle docked. It was 7:15, 1 AM in Beijing. 

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

"I think..." Duo looked around the terminal, bawled his fists, and placed them on the subtle curve of his hips. "I think our luggage has been stolen."

Wufei shook his head, "No, Duo. Our luggage was shipped ahead and should be waiting for us at our designated locations. Tonight we're going to go check into a hotel, and tomorrow we're going to set up."

Duo flopped into a plastic seat near the luggage carousel, and proceeded to ignore Wufei. "Stolen luggage... no Coffee... coffee" He mourned.

"It's only 8 PM, you don't _need_ caffeine."

Glaring, Duo turned his head away from Wufei. "It's 2 AM in Beijing, I need caffeine or I will go postal!"

Wufei stepped back, and looked about. Several people had stopped to watch Duo, including a few stray security guards. "Duo, we'll go get coffee."

"Nothing like threatening to go postal in a nice loud voice to get what you want." He smirked.

They made their way towards the street, and Wufei hailed a cab. Mumbling their destination he sat back and turned his attention over towards Duo. Since his arrival, he had been unusually quiet and secretive. It was becoming a concern, and Wufei refused to pry. 

Duo was sitting with one hand on his leg, and the other on the armrest of the door. His eyes idly watching the pedestrians fuss with shopping bags. L1 was notorious for their designer shops, theatres, and all around vicinities. It was the poster cluster for the colonies. All sparkles and flair, but the people held certain arrogance than was equally well known. They felt superior to their comrades of L2, and Wufei thought for a moment he could see those very thought pass across his face. 

"Your from L-2, aren't you?" Glancing at Wufei, Duo nodded and then turned his attention back to the civilians out in the crisp evening air. "I hear it's-"

Duo cut him of with an odd look, and then said tersely, "It's got a lot of character." He eyed a huddle of women exiting a boutique as they slowed at a stoplight. "I haven't spent a lot of time on L1, I feel kinda awkward prancing in here and just posing as a teacher. I won't fit in."

"We're counting on that, Duo." Wufei replied; it was his turn to watch meditatively out the window while Duo starred at him with a desire for answers.

~$~$~$-Next morning-$~$~$~$~

Duo stretched and literally rolled out of bed, taking a cascading pile of sheets and blankets with him to the ground. "Man-o-man..." He purred as he continued his stretching. "This feels so good, I love hotels."

"Maxwell." Wufei's voice rang clipped.

_Uh oh_. Duo sat up, Wufei _never_ called him that. "Yeah?"

"The blankets." Wufei chittered... They had left the heat off and now it was 8:15 AM and bitterly cold.

"Oh!" Duo laughed and pulled the covers up around him. "_These_... comfortable, fluffy, _warm_ blankets?" He drawled.

Two black eyes glowered over the side of the mattress at him. "Yes... _those_ comfortable, fluffy, _warm_ blankets." He repeated in a husky growl.

Duo blinked, stood up and made his way to the bathroom draped in a cape made of the finest bedspread in the hotel. He would leave Wufei _nothing_. "Oh, well it's too bad it's time to get up and that I claim the shower first." He turned his head and winked boyishly. 

Wufei was up and flying over the bed towards the closing the door. "Duo!"

_Mine_. Duo mouthed as it clicked shut, and the lock slid into place. The shower water turned on.

Wufei glared at the door, but found it hard to keep up such a hideous face directed at the bathroom's occupant. Duo was testing his nerves this morning, but it was such a normal occurrence when in Duo's brilliant company it was hard to keep on agitated. It meant that not everything was twisted in the braided man's life. That was good. "Don't use all the hot water!" He shouted turning on his heals and going to find the two coworkers breakfast. It would be a long day.

~$~$~$-Duo's Base of Operations, Evening-$~$~$~$~

"Aren't _I_ the spoilt one?" Duo mused running his fingers along the backside of the large posh couch. "What _did_ I do to deserve such a comfortable dwelling?"

Wufei shrugged. "This was paid for by Thret, so I assume he was unaware who he was contracting."

Duo wove in and out of each room: big kitchen, large living room, 1 ½ baths, a dinning room, an office, and two bedrooms. "Hey, Wufei?" Duo called from a bedroom. "Only one room is made up, what? Are you going all Heero on me?"

Wufei thought a moment over his choice of words: All Heero on him? What exactly happened between the two? "What do you mean?"

Duo walked back in through a door off the right side of the sitting room, "Well... the mattress is bare for one."

"Duo, I'm not staying here with you."

Duo paused and shifted his gaze through his lashes at Wufei before he resumed the tour of his new home. "Ok." He said nodding.

"I'm going to be boarding at the academy as Mika Thret's roommate. Recently the space became available. It's a good opportunity to get close to him and those who surround his day-to-day life." Wufei explained unnecessarily.

"That and we wouldn't want it to seem like there was a dirty little relationship passing between a new teacher and a student. Now would we? Scandalous!" Duo's words faded with a cryptic grin. "When do you leave for the boarding vicinity?" He yawned shuffling into the kitchen.

Wufei followed, checking the time on a clock above the archway leading to kitchen. It was 6 O'clock. "About three hours."

Duo nodded, "Want something to eat then? They stalked this place to the nines. I could go into hiding in hear and never have to leave for a thing! You'd think I'd have to entertain people nightly!" He reached into a cupboard and pulled out a small clear container. Alcohol. "Very professional." Noticing Wufei's sudden expression change, he modified the topic. "We should go out and look for a sushi bar!"

"No."

~$~$~$- **Inganno Academy, _South _Gate, **9:30 -$~$~$~$~

The building was massive, and didn't disappoint the mental image Duo had expected. It was more than just big; it was expansive 3-story structure built from gray brick with a silver and dark red theme in the shape of a 'H.' The male and female dormitories flanking each side. Along the far north gate stood a statue of a man pointing down at the colonies ground, Heero Yui and at the south gate was a monument to the war, a controversial piece of a small scale earth (about 25 feet tall) with the colonies orbiting it. At its base stood a female soldier saluting the figuration, and at her feet a small plaque: A single body cannot defeat hatred, but a thousand unified people can love and conquer under equality. - Heero Yui.

"Man Heero... you took such an idealists name." He mumbled into the breeze.

Duo slipped his hands into his pockets and gazed towards Wufei's receding form, he had a few bags under each arm and was heading towards the boys dormitory at a moderate speed. 

_I don't want to sleep alone_...

A cold anger gripped at his heart, this wasn't what he had expected when he had ventured to L-3 to Wufei's. He honestly hadn't planned on reenlisting as a Preventer and venturing off on a field mission as soon as he arrived. He had hated the work two years ago, and he wasn't sure if he would like it now. It was worth a try to attempt to run away from your problems, it was worth the hassle he reassured himself. "I'm not running..." He grumbled, his fists bawling in his pockets. He was _distracting_ himself.

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

Wufei stopped at the entrance and slung a look back at Duo standing next to the gate with his hands in his slacks. Why was he still standing around? As if Duo read his mind he visibly shrugged and disappeared around the stone gate heading back towards his home on foot. They would have to talk tomorrow once everything was settled in. 

Once inside he opted for the stairs oppose the silver adorned elevator, and drifted towards his new room on the fourth floor. It was an ornate hall, and he felt as though maybe this floor was where all the upper class government spawn resided. In a school that preached equality, it was quite the proliferation house. 

A person passed him in the hall and spared him an evaluating glance. "Hello." He said with a small and disappeared into a room. Wufei nodded at the space where the boy had stood, fished out a key card from his pocket, and then resumed looking for the appropriate embossed number. "Panther Hall, corridor D, Room- 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. D-29" He looked down to the card and reread the print: Panther Hall, Corridor D, RM. D-29. In the right hand corner, written with a masculine flourish was his name: Chang, Wufei.

Running the card through the slot, Wufei pressed a small black button along side the reader and the door slid open. 

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

Voices of the resident students filled the hall. Laughter. Whispers. The entrance closed behind Wufei, plummeting him into the darkness of his large room in time to be spared the petty formalities of introductions. He was sure they were familiar students, who had been in the school system for as long as they could remember. 

For Wufei, though, this was entirely a new experience. Something he had never done before. When he was young, as the son of the clan head, he was a privileged youth subjected to a smorgasbord of tutors, private ventures, and became inclined to anti-social behavior. He was never required to sully himself unless in training, and never forced to go up against his other students. 

School was entirely new to him, and somewhere inside he could feel his heart beating like a caged butterfly. Was he having anxieties? Maybe Duo _was_ better suited to be the student, but Wufei couldn't admit that he wanted this experience himself. During the war he had heard stories from Quatre on how Duo and Heero would arrange their accommodations when they weren't on missions. They enrolled in private schools... as normal students and did ordinary things like sports and socialize.

'_It's not something to be taken for granted_.' Trowa had chided, he was never allowed the luxury of either school or teachers, but rather learned vigorously on his own when he wasn't working and moving around. Quatre had agreed, he too had never attended, but instead received similar treatment as Wufei. While they were considered geniuses, linguists, sharp and their bodies honed, ideal soldiers and Preventers they never had a childhood that could be accepted by the standard masses. 

The door to his room slid open with a soft whoosh, and tall figure slipped in separating from a throng of young men in casual street clothes. "**_D_**-_Lights_ _On_." The room brightened instantaneously. "You must be my new roommate." The young man said. "My name is Mika, and you are Chang Wufei."

Wufei's lips parted, and his eyes unobtrusively widened in surprise.

~$~$~$- Duo's Place-$~$~$~$~****

Duo towel dried his hair, running his fingers through each tangle with ease. "So..." He grumbled staring at his queen-size bed. "This is what it's like to be alone?" The air was still around his movements, his bedroom silent in reply. "A guy could get use to this...I better not sleep there." Turning around, Duo palmed the light switch off, shut the door, and made his way to the couch where he had already set up a small comfortable bed on the plush sofa.

~$~$~$- **Inganno Academy, _Main Campus_, **7:15**AM**-$~$~$~$~

"And last but never least, Mr. Maxwell, this is your homeroom." The lanky woman chirped who greeted him as Anne. She was a bright women with blonde hair and brown eyes, her figure soft not toned, and homely. She instantly made you feel very comfortable, and that is why she was the counselor for the senior class. The class Duo would be teaching. 

In less than thirty minutes they had covered: the student body, rules, conduct, staff dress code, reoccurring events on the calendar, first day drills, the clubs he would be representing by being their staff delegate at meetings and supervising them during practice and tournaments, dorm locations, the cafeteria, offices, and several aspects of his appearance. 

He tried to hide the fact he was irked over the school attire codes. Monday - Thursday he was to be appropriately dressed in formal teaching apparel and every other Friday he was allowed to wear casual dress clothes. 

"Well, Mr. Maxwell... I hope I haven't bored you out of your mind and that this has been of some use to you." She said pulling her clipboard to her chest and smiling dreamily at him.

Duo nodded, "Yeah, thanks Anne. It has."

Anne bobbed her head and glanced over her shoulder, "Class starts at 7:25 AM and ends at 3:30 PM Monday through Friday, Saturday is a club day or free day as students call it, and on Sunday there are classes from 9 AM till 1 PM. Teachers are on duty from 7 AM till 5 PM, and expected to arrive 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes late. Got it? Good. You're solely responsibly for the twenty-something bodies that will be waiting for you every morning."

"Great." He must have missed that part in the handbook on how to become a teacher in less than 48 hours, instead of bopping her like he was so compelled to do, Duo just gave his best boyish grin. "Thanks, Anne, I really appreciate you taking some time to show me around."

"Oh... don't worry about it, it's my job... but really..." She leaned in. "It's my pleasure."

Duo blinked. "Uh huh."

"Oh I wanted to ask you a personal question if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Maxwell."

"Sure, no problem, shoot." Duo watched her and disguised his weariness of questions. Lady Une had told him to use his best intuition when in this situation.

"Your age wasn't placed on your staff profile, and I was curious as to how old you are? You seem so young!" She giggled.

"I'm 20." He lied.

Anne froze, "Oh my. That's almost unheard of... I can see why the board decided to keep that from student body knowledge. What made you want to be a tea-"

The bell rang and Duo quickly muttered his good bye and slipped in the room. _Saved by the bell! Yoshi!_

 ~$~$~$- Class B, RM 210-$~$~$~$~

Wufei could barely mask his nervousness; this wasn't just a mission... he was in school! But just as his anxiety was about to peek inside his mind, the door slide open and his teacher walked in. The man was clean, scruffy, and professional but had a distinct aura around him that demanded attention that garnered focus and loyalty. That was expected of Duo Maxwell, of a good teacher, but what Wufei couldn't fathom was what he was wearing.

Duo Maxwell in white button-down dress shirt, carefully tucked into his waistband. Duo Maxwell in pressed black slacks and polished boots that shone success. Duo Maxwell in a satin red tie... Okay, that one fit Duo just fine, but it was as if all of the beauty that Duo possessed had been wrapped neatly in a package that could barely contain what it so gingerly tried to hide.

Duo spotted Wufei and smiled. The spell was broken, and the braided instructor's familiar gesture was swept away in a look of concentration as he looked for something on his desk. There was a wall between them, carefully constructed to preserve the mission, and both teacher and his pupil could feel it glaringly. 

Wufei looked away towards the false blue sky just beyond the expensive windowpane. He had circumspectly chosen a seat in the last few rows of the classroom, his desk by the window. He could see all access ways and most students.

A few trailing students tapered into the room and took their seats, and Duo moved towards the mahogany podium in front of the class room, the sprawling chalk board just feet behind him. "Good Morning!" He said with ease. 

The class rose and bowed up, Duo nodded and asked: "How was everyone's summer?"

A couple kids groaned comically, and Duo chuckled. "My name is Mr. Maxwell, and I'm new amongst the faculty here at Inganno Academy."

Wufei leaned back a ways in his chair, he was shocked, suddenly it wasn't a mission that separated them it was age, Duo wasn't 18 here... Duo was in his twenties, mature, an educated teacher, their professor. It didn't feel like an act, and it wasn't, it was just one of the many facets of Duo Maxwell. Something bitter and angry nipped at him. One of the many faces he had yet to see.

~$~$~$- _Getting to know you_...-The King and I-$~$~$~$~

"I'm going to take roll." Duo announced lifting a transparency and placing it on a white clipboard to read. "Can't I just ask if everyone's here?" He looked up at the cracking faces of his students they were warming up. Who could blame them? "I suppose not..."

His eyes scanned down the 23 names and then across the extremely beautiful faces peering back at him curiously, he wouldn't expect anything less from aristocratic and government official's children, just at glance he could see two empty seats side by side next to Wufei. So he had some skippers. That probably would have been him had he not become a Gundam Pilot. 

His mind drifted back to the appearance of his class, they were exceptional, nothing ordinary about them. 

"Alright, _getting to know you_..." Duo sang absently, and he picked the name atop the lists. "Darryl Albin." 

"Here." A boy towards the back of the class stood up, his eyes set in a narrow glare pointed at none other than his instructor. He was tall, sinewy, with pale disheveled blonde hair and a dangerous shadowed stare. His uniform was rumpled partially unbuttoned, his ears were pierced, and several metal necklaces dangled over the hallow of his collarbone; one even longer disappeared under his shirt. By all rights, Duo should turn him in for violation of the dress code... but instead he found himself grateful that _that_ student's name was Darryl and not Mika. 

"Gavin Andrews?" Darryl sat down and the boy in front of him stood up. He was cute, neat; bright blue eyed, dark haired, and was no taller than 5'4. Duo nodded at him and he sat down. "Sara Andrews?" In the front row the first girl to be called stood up, she was short, and brunette with cold water-washed blue eyes. "Any relation?"

The girl, Sara, shot an icy look over her shoulders and Gavin cowered low in his seat uncomfortably. "_It's_ my brother." She said stiffly and sat back down.

Duo took a moment to breath. It was like him of course, just like his luck, to be stuck with the class with the issues, the baggage. 

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

_Bouma, Grace M._

_Burkett, Morgan E._

_Chaney, Bernadette L._

Duo open his mouth to continue on with role, he'd only have to do it once and he'd know every name in the class and could take roll during the five minute break in an hour. The door swung open, and two young men filed in. The last through the entry stopped to give Duo an appraising look before a private smile brushed across his features and disappeared into a taunting porcelain mask. "You're late." Duo said waggling one finger at them.

The one who looked at him stopped at one of the empty seats and brushed a hand back through his feathered dark dyed red hair. "Sorry... _Sensei_..." His voice was a chuckle, a velvety purr. It was Machiavellian, daring him to say something. 

Too wise fall into the trap, Duo shrugged, pick your battles, and save them for another day when your enemy isn't expecting it. Duo would accept that challenge, but not on the first day of school. "Forgiven, take your seat." The two did as they were told and he continued to take roll.

Duo looked at Wufei, "Wufei Chang."

Wufei stood, nodded, and reseated himself.

_Deboer, Anna Li R.._

_Duscha, Aubrey _

_Grey, Liam_

"Dexter Hastings?" Duo searched the room, found no empty seats, but no standing figures. "Dexter?" Finally a young man stood, it was the first one to enter the room tardy. He was about 6'2, a good head taller than Duo himself with a strong build, broad shoulders and a narrowed waist, immaculate dress. Why were all the boys in this room... so...

"Dex." He corrected. "And I'm here..." The _obviously_ wasn't said, but it was in the air. A few kids snickered.

Duo kept his head, "Good to know, _Dex_... now sit down." For a moment the young man's exterior mask faltered, and he sat down.

****

_Hanowell, Brittany A._

_Jun, Lian_

_Kamiki, Kiyakotari_

_King, Lauren B._

_Lewis, Talon_

_Llawkae, Wren_

_Mikhail, Stanislav_

_Owens, Blake W._

_Seung, Min_

_Shing, An_

_Siguaw, Jae M._

It was an interesting group of faces that rooted in varying ethnic pools, each unique, the females pleasant (aside from Sara), and the majority of the men were nasty (aside from Gavin) and wanting to throw a pissing contest in motion. Lastly...

"Mika Thret?" The only person who hadn't been called on stood and grinned maliciously. The red head that came in late!

"Sensei..." He said softly.

Everyone was listening to him, waiting for a verdict, they trusted his judgment full heartedly. "Mika." Duo acknowledged him with a curt nod. "Thank you all, that's everyone. Welcome to History!" 

Duo set his clipboard down and looked back up, Mika was still standing his severe dark brown eyes anchored to Duo's. "Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Thret? Or are you waiting to be told to sit."

Mika didn't waver; instead he tilted his head to the side, and looked at Duo under his thick effeminate lashes. "Tell me to sit... _Sensei_..."

Duo found his heart in his throat. "Sit." He almost choked.

Mike smiled and sat.

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

The class ended at 9:30 AM, and Duo had never been so grateful to be able to disappear into the teacher's office hall in the eastern part of the main campus. He quickly acquainted himself with his very own laptop, vid-com, and several other handy objects he didn't know how to use but had seen Heero use everyday since he had introduced himself. 

He vibrated as he tapped his foot excitedly on the floor waiting for windows to load on his laptop, three seconds later (which seemed like an eternity! Damn slow computers) a black screen flashed asking for his name, id number, and password. 

**Name**: Duo Maxwell

**#**: 21002

**Password**: **************

A sad smile appeared on his face, it was odd how he missed that old hunk of gundanium. Even though he was the one who really wielded the scythe, the Gundam had become his shield against the world. Every time he had fought, he had been taking revenge for everything that was torn for him; he was fighting for the kids who would end up like him, and all with the help of the cold giant with glowing green eyes.

"Well, well, well... Heero you'd be jealous." He said running a finger along the black monitor. A maniacally grin broke out over his face, and a howling laugh escaped his lips.

A timid rapping at his door broken up his burst of insanity, "Sir..." Came a soft voice. 

Duo sat frozen, much like rigor mortis had set in after death by mortification, one hand flexed like a claw and the other extended towards his new toy. "Uh..." He dropped his limbs and sat back. "Come in."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you... I...I wanted to know if I could ask...erm...It's the first day and all..." The soft pair of blue eyes darted to the side nervously, and at last, Gavin scooted into the room and diffidently made his way to the desk. 

_Really_, Duo thought, _he's really short._ He fought an urge to fall into a fan-girl stereotype, Gavin was unbelievably cute! His voice ever so softly touched by an accent. _Kawaii..._

The seconds of silence stretched over into minutes until finally Duo realized the boy was waiting for him to give him permission to speak. "What can I do for you, Gavin?"

Gavin's mood lifted immediately, "You remembered my name." He said with wonder.

"Uh huh, I also remember that witch of a sister you have, Sarah."

Immediately his azure eyes smoldered into a maelstrom of anger, his face twisting into something hideous, irate, it was hard to believe such a change could occur in guy who appeared so calm and sweet. "You have no right to speak about her that way." He snarled. Duo's eyes inched open. "You're not _worthy_ of speaking her name." He spat.

Duo found himself staring dumbly. Wow, that was surprising. Finding his footing Duo nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't know her, and I have no right. She just came off as quite the"-a warning look-"She's pretty." Duo tried to amend.

Gavin's rage diminished with an unsure smile, "You just have to know her." He replied. "She can be pretty intense, but she's really a wonderful person. Kind, gentle, smart, beautiful..." His voice vanished in his throat as he dreamily stared past Duo.

Again, Duo just stared. _Sister complex_... "I'm sure she is." He said vigilantly, that snapped the boy back into reality. "Now, what can I help you with, Gavin?"

"My father constructed my class agenda before I got here and had a chance to suggest anything..."

"Why would you _suggest_, why can't you just make up one yourself? You're nearly an adult? You're what? Practically 18?" The boy shook his head. "Uh... 17?" Gavin continued to shake his head. "How old are you?"

"I... turn 16 next week." He whispered.

Duo's eyebrow screwed up his forehead, "You're a senior?" Gavin nodded. "How old is your sister?"

"She's 18."

"I see..." Duo decided right then it would be a great time to become acquainted with his student profile program on his the school database. "Why can't you make your own class schedule?" 

"I... my father..." Gavin watched his feet. "I'm my father's only son.... And..."

"_Okay_, I got it." Duo said with a defined frown. "Now what about your classes?"

Gavin shifted his weight from his left to his right, "I wanted to know... if I could trade a class... for... well _your_ writing class. Maybe... I don't know... you could help me?"

_My writing class_? When did he teach writing? "Is that _all_?" Duo laughed, and Gavin found it easy to as well. He really was starting to like this kid. "I'll see what I can do! Why don't you stop by later?"

"I can't... I have to be... somewhere." Gavin replied quietly.

"Well then my office after school tomorrow? Okay?" Duo asked.

Gavin dipped his head gratefully, "And... can this be a secret? My father... wouldn't be happy... He's not fond of my... writing... He'd be angry."

"Yeah, sure thing. Our secret." Duo said standing up and extending his hand.

They shook and finally, Gavin melted into a pool of laughter and grins. "Thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I can't tell you-... ah, thank you, Mr. Maxwell!" 

The name felt like a sudden slap in the face. Duo faltered over it. "Uh, in private... go ahead and call me Duo."

Gavin looked taken aback.

"I'm _not_ that _old_..." Duo said rubbing the back of his head; he knew none of this would come back to him. Gavin was a boy of undisclosed, as it seemed, and Duo was a self-proclaimed 'excellent judge of character.' "Not much older than your sister." _Or the same age, same thing._

"All right, _Duo_." Gavin grinned, testing out the name. He then bowed politely and excused himself mumbling several thank yous and exiting, the door gently shutting behind him.

For a long time afterward, Duo thought about Gavin... his father and his sister and frowned. Did he have many kids like Gavin in his class? He bitterly wondered what Wufei was discovering. Duo was sure he had the better end of the deal; those kids' had looks to knock people flat. 

~$~$~$- Between Periods-$~$~$~$~

Wufei slid through the crowd with cat like ease, making his way towards his next class, he would skip breakfast for today. He was glad Duo's class had ended, the room was intense, the students a little more than hostile (save for Gavin). No one had spoken to him and he found that he didn't even fit in with the two resident Chinese students, a male named Min Seung and a female, An Shing. 

After class An had stopped to look at him, her dark eyes fiery. Wufei nodded to her and swept up his sparse belongings, when he looked back up Min had stopped to observe him as well.

In the end all he had receive were a few piercing gazes before they turned from him, and he reminded himself he wasn't Chinese. He wasn't there to socialize, or to clique with other students he was on a mission. Even on the first day... he wasn't there to make friends.

"Hey Wufei... What do you think of the new teacher, Mr. Maxwell? There isn't a lot about him on the school database. Since he is our base professor I decided to look something up on him, see what kind of bastard he was... wasn't much on him at all."

Wufei looked up at a pair of typical yet striking hazel eyes. 

The guy smiled, "We met last night, remember? I'm Mika's friend, Dex. He asked me to come and get you so you could sit with us at breakfast." He paused to breath, "Would you sit with us? You two are roommates, might as well start the year off well.... With the _right_ crowd." The subtle stress on crowd made Wufei's blood burn, it sounded like a threat, naturally... he wanted to meet it eye for eye. "Will you come?" Dex continued.

"Yes." Wufei nodded, and was redirected towards the cafeteria.

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

Wufei poked at his breakfast, it was probably more edible than anything he had eaten in years. The school had a staff of private chefs willing to cook just about any food listed on the menu with any variations the students could conjure. All the food listed was pumped with vitamins and extras to help the students maintain a healthy diet. Wufei casually wondered what normal students in 'less prestigious' schools ate. 

"What the hell is your problem?" Dex snarled speaking over the table to someone "They've been staring since we sat, Mika."

Mika looked up, his eyes sharpening on An and Min. "Yes...?" 

Wufei refused to turn to face them, instead chose to pick through his food quietly. It was wise to remain silent; to cause a stir so soon could deter the mission.

"Nothing." Came a crisp melodic female voice. "You can return to your business." She ordered.

Dex laughed, "Someone has her panties all up in a twist."

"Dexter." Mika snarled softly.

Dex shrugged apologetically and shifted his eyes to Wufei. "I don't remember you here before, are you new this year?" Wufei sat up straight and nodded his head once. "I pity you, Mika is roommate to die for."

Again, Dex had Mika's full attention. "To die for...?" He whispered. "_Really_?" Dex fidgeted uncomfortably. "I didn't think so."

"No!" Dex all but shouted, "No..." He added quietly. 

"No, what?" Mika asked innocently.

"No... I'd die for you..."

Mika smiled and nudged his friend playfully with his elbow, "Don't worry about it, Dex! I know."

Wufei looked from one to the other and then back at his meal. What was between them? Did it matter? When he had reigned in his focus and turned back to Mika, his was lip was pulled back in a scowl, his eyes narrowed in a fierce glare that rivaled Heero's at its worse. Wufei followed the almost visible beam of rage to a familiar face across the cafeteria staring back. 

It was Darryl Albin sitting against a wall, his heavy laced boots propped up on the clean surface of a round marble wall table. He was returning the look with a defiant unbreakable ice blue stare, it was on his lips... the blood he wanted... his visibly unforgiving desire was passionate and fuming. 

Wufei began to viciously take mental notes of the situation. The way Dex's hands flexed protectively, the tension. Darryl and Mika. If anyone was threatening Mika... Darryl was the likeliest of suspects. 

The 5-minute bell sounded.

As sudden as it had come on, everything broke apart as a bright young boy, one who Wufei recognized from class, seated himself across from Darryl speaking at what looked like was a mile a minute. Darryl just smiled, nodded, and laughed even. Before he stabbed Mika with one more burning glance he patted the brunette on the back. It was hard to believe that a moment before Darryl had assisted in creating the thick acidic coat over the room.

Wufei looked at his nudged meal and rose to throw it away. He would have to find out more about the trio.

~$~$~$- The day draws to an End-$~$~$~$~

The rest of the day was uneventful. Each teacher introduced themselves and their curriculum, and Wufei became acquainted with the school rituals that were as old as education. You wake up, make a fool of yourself, prance to class, sit there, listen, be harassed, savor your breaks, eat lunch, and suffer through the last two classes of the day all the while staring at the clock and waiting for 3:30. 

It was hard not to sigh at each class, other than Duo's morning history class, each subsequent class was almost offending. It was nothing his private tutors hadn't covered when he was barely 10, and it was increasingly difficult to stay awake. What was he going to do until the end of this mission? He couldn't make a spectacle and ask for advanced classes, he was placed near Thret. 

Mrs. Setsuko Takayatsu, the Japanese language instructor, nodded to her class. "You're excused. I hope you've all had a nice day, enjoy your afternoon, and I'll see you tomorrow."  

It was a mission. Only on the first day... and already the line was becoming blurred. The big brass hand on the clock ticked, and a bell sounded.

~$~$~$- After School, 5:20-$~$~$~$~

His day was unexciting, aside from his first period in which he taught advanced history. After that he had a breakfast break followed by 2nd period (Ancient History), Lunch, a first year staff meeting, a brief get-together with Anne. 

Apparently teachers alternated on 3rd period, and he would be teaching a [B] creative writing course tomorrow after lunch, followed by his final class poetically titled: War and Revolution 102. 

Classes like that made him wonder what sort of citizens these young adults would become. He highly doubted any of them would because normal civilians. The world was just beyond their grasps, and they knew it. That is why he was there to begin with, to stop another war. 

Battles always started somewhere on someone's personal court, they were dramatic, and heated... Duo tried to speculate what small spat had sparked the last war, the one that he had helped end.

He frowned, and his mind drew up a blank.

Duo wiggled in his desk swivel chair. He was required to stay thirty minutes after school in case there was academy business to attend to, but he was sure no one was going to bother him on the first day. His foot bounced anxiously. 5:22... Duo dropped his head on his keyboard. 5:22 and 5 seconds.

"Maxwell."

The voice nearly threw Duo under his desk with shock; someone had come in to see him. When he sat up two eyes were staring at him. 

The pupil and professor starred at one another, gauging the situation.  

"You could knock." Duo finally said.

"Yes, I could, couldn't I?"

Duo sat up, and dusted himself off habitually. "What can I help you with, Darryl?"

The young man stayed silent for a moment, his ivory expression unchanging. "I wanted to thank you." 

"Excuse me?" 

With the same tone that had confused Duo earlier, Darryl said. "Thank you for taking a moment for Gavin, he was... really happy."

Duo's eyebrow shot up. "Is he your friend?"

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

Darryl returned the expression but apparently ignored his superior's question. Besides, Darryl noted, he was only superior in title. "That's not your business." 

Duo blasted up out of his seat and swept everything of importance off his desk into his satchel, except for his laptop which he carefully closed and put in it's case. "5:30 PM! It's time for me to go, see ya."

Bewildered, Darryl allowed himself to be shewed out of the office. _That professor,_ Darryl watched the narrow form lock the door and then jog the length of the hall and out of site, _that _'professor'_ is odd..._ And that was all he could conclude about the disheveled teacher with the long chestnut braid.

~$~$~$- Abode-O-Odd-instructor-Duo-$~$~$~$~

After arriving home, Duo briefly discussed a few complications with Lady Une. She had neglected to inform him of a few 'duties' he was to perform at the school. She had reprimanded him for not being prepared for anything like he always claimed to be, and told him 'a part of being a Preventer is doing your homework and being equipped.'

When the connection closed, Duo indulged himself in a glare at the black screen, then turned away and tactically dimmed the lights into darkness. 

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

_Wufei... I thought you said you were coming over to discuss the mission. _With a sigh of resign he climbed onto the couch, pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped a red quilt around his body. Even though the room temperature was set to 75°, he was still chilled. 

With nothing better to do, Duo waited half clothed under his blanket, his damp hair brushed out and hanging over either shoulder. He waited until he fell asleep...

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~****

_"What do you want?"_

_Duo_ are you _drunk_?

_"Hey Heero... You've been awfully quiet, something buggin' you?"_

_"Other than you? No."_

What's all this silence...?

_"Wait, you're mad at me? Why didn't you tell me so?"_

Should I always have to tell you what's wrong? Shouldn't you just know by now?

_"Duo, this just isn't going to work out between us. I'm moving out in the morning."_

Wait! Duo!? Where are you going?

_"I'm leaving!"_

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

To Be Continued with **Chapter 3: **_Classroom Politics _

~$~$~$~$~$~$~$~

**Ending Note**: Sorry if this chapter felt uneventful, I've just figured out the entire story line and am In the process of laying the foundation, this chapter is necessary in it's simplicity as an basic introduction to the academy. I promise it'll get better and I welcome everyone's comments, ideas, guesses, and criticism. (Oh yeah... Heero is on his way!)

- _Wow... 10 reviews on my first chapter! Holy shit! If that continues I will beat NMYG's reviews in two more chapters! As always, I wanted everyone who contributed to inspiring me to write more to know how grateful I am to them. Several of those reviews prompted me to continue writing; I even got a few e-mails with ideas! I haven't gotten response like this since I posted chapter 2 on my Yami no Matsuei fic, and wanted to say thanks to people who took the time to respond! _

- _THANKS to _**Lady Dragon Wolf Knight**_ for the grammar fixes! I went through my fic right away to correct the errors she pointed out! Thank you so much! You are always more than helpful; I don_'_t know what I did to deserve a reader like you!_

**~Responses to Unregistered Reviewers~ **

**Neko** - Thank you...**hides and blushes** The best? Hardly, but I'd like to get there! Your e-mail didn't work so I hope you get a chance to read this, thank you for giving my fic a shot! I'm pleased you approved!

**Freefall  **- Who is this mysterious _freefall_!? LoL You've reviewed before...anyhow, thank you! As always, the time you take to encourage me is beyond words of gratitude. 

**Kurai Kaiba** - **bounces** Kaiba...as in...Yu-Gi-Oh Kaiba? My favorite YGO character! 2x5 is my favorite pairing as well! I've gotten a lot of requests that vary in matched characters...but I'm not sure as to what I am going to do! Maybe you can help persuade me? Eh? Eh? There are a few more elements that I want to set up before I set down a pairing...and even then...nothing is decided, as many of my normal readers should know!


	3. Chapter 3 Classroom Politics

---------------------------

**S_ensei_**! By _Redd_Alice

---

**Author's Note: **This chapter I am looking for constructive and or negative (but descriptive) feedback. What could I have done? What would you like to see the characters do? What do or don't you like about my GW characters or story line? Things of that nature. Thanks so much for helping me improve later chapters! -Mika's name is said "Mee-kuh"

**Songs: **Message #9 – _Gasaraki_, My Deftones playlist

---------------------------

_Sensei!_

**Chapter 3** – _Classroom Politics_

_"Politics is an art, a strategic art of getting what you want." – _Said by one my college professors, Mr. Bower ('Poly Sigh'… haha).

---------------------------

_The warmth of his bare body was pressed against his abdomen, rubbing against him with taunting slowness. Caressing the subtle definition of his muscles, and bringing mist to his eyes. He wanted him… he desperately wanted to touch him. He couldn't, he wouldn't touch him, he wouldn't beg, he couldn't…_

--- **Inganno Academy, _Main Campus_, **_Breakfast Break _**PIE!!!**---

The cafeteria chief chef, Nana, was a robust woman in her early fifties. Her smile was contagious and the sharp side of her tongue could wither Lady Une in her place. She had gladly given in to Duo's request for a piece of cherry pie instead of eggs, ham, or cereal, etc. etc. etc. Actually she had scolded him on his choice of nourishment, and told him she wouldn't have his pretty body wasting away because he didn't know how to feed it. All it took was a wink and-… a promise to wash the dishes at the end of the day. Duo also swore he would stop by for the lunch of her choice for the rest of the month.

With a woeful smile, Duo took his meager piece of cherry pie and stalked off towards his office. Breakfast break was thirty minutes long and he had to go through Gavin's file, and speak to Anne about getting him placed in his writing class before third period. No problem.

Duo locked the door behind him, and seated himself in his chair. "Gavin Andrews, Gavin, Gavin, Gavin…" He chanted to himself as he booted up his laptop and shoveled a small forkful into his mouth. Giddily he squealed a garbled 'yummy' and melted under his desk in a pool of bliss.

When he finally managed to drag himself back into his chair his entrance screen had already popped open. He entered his password, and then single clicked on the school directory. Three categories came up: School Directory, _Student Directory_, and Staff Directory. In the next screen only two links appeared: Currently Enrolled Students, Former Students.

What sort of school kept information on ex-students on the school network? Duo chose Currently Enrolled Students. The area required a teachers name, ID, and password before it allowed him access to the section. He selected the senior class and 200 names materialized on the screen. Andrews, Gavin D. was the 15th name on the list along side an attractive senior picture of him smiling, his hair slightly mused.

-------------------------------

**_Gavin Dominick Andrews  
_**_Age_: 15  
_D.O.B_.: **__**October 1st, 182  
_Blood Type_: O-  
_Family Location_: Earth – _London_, England

_Guardian Location_: Currently located on L-1 section 3 – Business trip  
_Name of Legal Guardian_: **_Randolph Percy Andrews_**  
_Parent Status_: Divorced  
_Family_: 4  
_Siblings_: 1 Sarah Dominique Andrews, 18, Currently enrolled, Senior Class A

_Class_: Base Room: 210 Senior Class A  
_Dormitory:_ Panther Hall, Corridor A, Room 18  
  
__

_Academy Supervisor: _: 21002  
_Registered_: 1- Adv. History : 21002, 2- Adv. International Politics #: 32311, 3 A-  
Adv. Calculus #: 14300, 3 B – Adv. French #: 91457, 4 – Adv. Colonial Policies  
_G.P.A.: 4.0  
Ex. Curricular: _International Alliance Association Speech,Student Council-Secretary,  
Tai Chi Chuang, Adv. Symphony Cello, Bass Clarinet, Piano  
  
__

198- Advanced to Sophomore Class D to Junior Class B  
198- Advanced to Senior Class A from Junior Class B

Personal Information

-------------------------------

Basic Information

Gavin Dominick Andrews 

Access Denied – Please Enter Senior Staff Code for further Information

Observations made by Professor Ruumi, Adv. Psychology, May 05th, 197 #: 60607

---------------------------

Duo made a rude noise at the screen. The profiles were absolutely no help. Duo inhaled the last of his pie and smiled, he could become religiously attached to the baked ambrosia. "Anne, you're just gonna have to make yourself useful!"

It took a little under five minutes for Duo to track down the senior councilor in the faculty lounge. She was willing to help and spend time with the new addition to their staff.

"Would that be everything, Mr. Maxwell?"-Duo nodded-"It's so nice to hear you're already trying to make a difference to your students, taking an interest! Gavin is such a bright child, a pleasure really. " Anne smiled pleased.

"No… wait, I had a question." Duo waited till Anne looked back at him from her computer. "Why is the students personal information inaccessible for my laptop?"

Anne sighed, "That is done by request by the students legal guardians. Dr. Ruumi, our psychology professor, takes notes on student behavior and any other notable aspects of a student's life. Their relationships, everything, all the drama really… Who's dating who, who's befriending who, what perks their interest. Ruumi is kind of strange, but she's amiable if you ask me. If you really needed personal information… I'm sure she'd oblige." Anne added, watching Duo watch her eyebrow waggling suggestively.

In a matter of minutes the alterations to the classes were finished and when Duo popped by his office to check the student profiles he found that his "Advanced" Creative Writing class had replaced Adv. French.

---------------------------

Wufei brushed his locker and stuffed his things inside just as the last bell rang notifying him of his tardiness. He was late for Foreign Government. He shut his locker and turned. Just ahead Duo was walking away, his hands casually tucked inside the pockets of his slacks. He must have past right by and Wufei hadn't notice.

A student passed him, stopped and turned back around to say hello to his teacher. "Hello Mr. Maxwell! How are you?"

Duo grinned at the young man, and his sweet Australian accent. "Good, good, thanks Liam. Late to class?"

"Same could be said for you! Don't _you_ have a class, Mr. Maxwell? The bell just rang." Captain Obvious asked, another student from Wufei's first period class.

"Eh, I don't think the kids will be heartbroken if I am late to Ancient World History."

The young man made a face, "World History? I see."

It's hard to control feelings; their triggers are deeply ingrained in everyone's nature. So to call it stupid would be ridiculous, but for a moment…

Duo had said _nothing_ to Wufei as a friend, colleague, _or_ a student in his base class; instead he chose to speak to a rather handsome light skinned classmate. So it was just being honest to say that for a moment Wufei was jealous.

---**L-4**, _The Winner Estate_**An Empty Bed**---

Quatre's eyes fluttered open clear as crystal, but unfocused from sleep. It was nice to be able to sleep in till 10:30 AM. He hadn't done it in months, and now he felt lethargy sneaking up on him and claiming his limbs. Five more minutes would have been nice, but he had been pounding snooze since 5 AM when he had originally planned an appointment with the family broker, who was also his sister Annie. She took one look at her pale, anemic looking, younger brother and shoved him back into his room to go back sleep. It felt as though he hadn't slept in years, or had slept so long he couldn't wrap his brain around consciousness anymore.

For as long as Quatre could remember he loathed Tuesdays, now he missed them and wanted to sleep them away and dust them under the rug. They reminded him of his father, the man he disappointed, but knew deep in his soul that his old man would have been proud of him. When you carried on as the family head in your father's place, slept in the king size bed your parents once owned in the master suite they once occupied, and did so with only the shy maids to keep you company… you couldn't help but feel alone.

Sometimes Quatre would avoid his colony all together for months before one of his many sisters tracked him down and demanded to know his whereabouts. He always told them he was helping Trowa with a mission, and they just smiled happy that their brother had found someone to _share_ his life with… but…

Now was as good of time as any to start his day. He would go see Annie, take care of brunch, jog down to town hall, take a flight up to the resource satellite, call his sister, vid-mail Duo, and dabble around the house doing various chores and caring for his family's business. Quatre sat up and pushed the layers of covers off his legs and yawned.

Trowa…

What exactly _was_ he _sharing_? They weren't boyfriends, but lovers and companions, yet barely friends. They slept in separate beds, and kept different company. Their only real connection was their past as Gundam Pilots, their comrades, and a deep seeded love for music. Quatre never felt any regret leaving when he had to, but he could feel the heavy remorse emanating off of Trowa every time he left and it broke his heart. When did the line get so blurred? _Why_ was he so confused? Why didn't he care?

Thinking of Trowa just reminded him of how big his king size bed was, and how much space he _didn't_ need to survive. He was glad to have his legroom… _at last_.

----------------?----------------

_His breath hitched in his chest, and burned like his skin, his flesh was on fire, and he was unable to fight it. Did he want to fight it? Did he? Could he if he had to? No…_

--- **Inganno Academy, **"ADVANCED" CREATIVE WRITING---

Since yesterday Duo had been well aware that he was going to be teaching a writing course of the 'advanced kind.' He wasn't thrilled, but rather curious. Unfortunately he had been to lazy to prepare a class lesson for today, so he would run it by ear and do a lot of talking about nothing.

Gavin flounced in the room at a lengthy stride, and his hands full of notebooks, a bright grin enhancing his overall appearance. "Hello!"

Duo stood back for a moment to appreciate the giddiness of his student, and felt a small stab of jealousy. He could have been a student; he could have had more time to just be a kid if he had been able to switch roles with Wufei. "How's it going, Gavin?"

The young man continued to grin, "Great."

"Good to hear."-Duo motioned broadly at the notebooks-"What's all this?"

Gavin made an 'O' with his mouth and set everything down on the first desk to his right in the front row. "This is all of my writing… or the ones my dad didn't throw away. I wanted to have you look through them and tell me what you think…if you have time." He added unobtrusively.

"Give me a few weeks and I'll read them and go over them with you when I have time, okay? Sound good?"

"Sounds great!" Gavin sat down and began to organize his mess of papers.

Duo glanced at the ticking clock above the doorway, he had five minutes to come up with a plan for class… playing by ear wouldn't cut it when there were young kids like Gavin, or not _quite_ like him, who were expecting to learn. He felt obligated. Instead of standing still and waiting, Duo exited the room and walked the halls.

What did a Gundam Pilot have to teach about writing?

---Courtyard **Full of Memories**---

The vast opening amongst the towering academic buildings was both voluptuously modern, the roses growing untamable. Wufei had been wondering the grounds looking for a place to read during his free period when he walked past the windowless doors that lead to the secret garden. It was like Eden to him, a forbidden place that he felt no one would trespass upon.

Wufei glanced around the empty courtyard, proclaiming it empty, he slouched down onto the hard dark marble bench, the world whispering by in the wind and through the romantic blooms that grew up around the clean brick path like a fence.

Here in the silence, Wufei remember his mother, and forget the trivialities that had intertwined himself in his mission. Lingmei. Lingmei had been a loving mother, regardless of the distance she put between herself and the world; she had been loving and devoted to him.

Like the roses in his family's garden, the roses here were of the purest red, blackened by the lack of sun. A few errant rays poured over the rooftops and through a few fortunate petals casting red botches on the ground like a prism hanging from the windows.

Lingmei had loved roses such as these.

Wufei made his way down the rock path in a manner befitting a son of the clan leader, in silence and composure, to the secretive area he knew his mother was tending. He had known well she would be knelt there in the dirt, her white satin robs dusty, and smudge with green from the grass and stems. Her fine black hair was loosely knotted at the nape of her neck, impudent strands curling by her face. There on the ground she was digging up insolent weeds and roots that struggled to kill the life Wufei's mother had nursed from seeds. Wufei quietly soaked up the scene, "Momma…"How young she looked, her face unmarred by time here in the midst of the reddest of roses. 

--------------------------------

_Lingmei sat back on her heels, and smiled at her littlest son, so small he was, all of seven, and there he stood like a man. "Hmn?"_

_"These flowers, they aren't much unlike you." Wufei observed._

_"Oh Wufei, how so?" She asked tenderly, opening her arms to him, offering her lap for him to sit on._

_Wufei only made a tiny face, it was frowned upon for her to continue babying him, and his father wouldn't stand for it. It angered her husband to see him take to his mother so at his age, it infuriated him into relentlessly beating the child, and calling him a-_

_"They are so dark when they are kept in doors, or shuttered in by fences and walls."_

_"Yes, they are. A long time ago… centuries ago… roses grew wild, without human hand the help the rise from the earth." She told him, and dubious as always he shrugged her comment away. "How am I like these flora, my child? I'm hardly as young as these."_

_"Oh no, momma." He whispered. "They are so dark in doors, like you, but when the sun touches their petals they are like fire, wild and alive, breathing and beautiful."_

Wufei leaned back into his seat, roses would always remind him of his mother, and those comforting arms he had pushed away so long ago. The academy reminded him too much of home, of his proud father, and his dreams for Wufei.

Had he chosen a different path, and fulfilled his family destiny, he might have been in school throughout the war, fighting honorably for his people with his knowledge and strength, oppose to slaughtering boys his age in a hopeless battle in space. The war the dusted away his family's colonial state like it was nothing, like his mother's maid's bleach would have done to those satin robes she wore in the garden.

----**THE WAR ROOM**: Adv. Creative Writing---

Everyone was seated, promptly when the bell rang, but their voices had not yet resigned from hall talk. "-And all I could hear were children laughing…"

No one heard him. "Did you know Mike dumped Alena?" "Oh?" "I was late to my Russian Language class, Instructor Tate had me run five laps around the grounds… and _that_ made me late to my _next _class. So then the Professor told me I had det" "Did you see Mika at lunch talking to Amber? She's _soo_ lucky!" The words were bleeding together slowly becoming and indistinguishable.

Duo looked to Gavin. He sat nervously in the front row, his posture erect and perfect. He was quietly waiting for Duo's first words of wisdom completely unaware of the chaos of dialect thrashing around him.

Finally Duo repeated himself, "-And all I could hear were children laughing…" Duo whispered, he slanted his eyes to the floor, his face soft for a moment. A couple girls gazed at him adoringly, straining to hear his voice. "Laughing! Laughing and laughing!" Duo roared.

The class went silent, and student turned to stare at him, mouths hanging open mid-sentence.

"-Laughing!" He yelled at his wide-eyed pupils. "And there, amongst the wails… I cried. I screamed even! I damned each small voice! I shouted: 'Wretched voices! Cease, desisted, for I am going mad at all this raving!' In the world then, all those little children became nothing but whispers, and I was resigned, my last energy spent on casting off the evil that had burdened me! All night, they had chanted, laughing at me… and at last… I could sleep. Their tongues comforting me in their softness." Duo had their attention with his sudden passion, his voice trembling, and bellowing, then whispering and whimpering, pleading almost… They were rapt and unable to break away from his grasp.

"I then found…" Duo continued, "That I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep at all, nor could I keep my heavy eyelids shut. Their cooing no longer comforted me, but I discovered I couldn't function without their incessant taunting. Without it I had no drive to go on towards the future. I was all alone in my bed, my gown in disarray, I was alone in a world full of people, alone in a mob."

Gavin's small lips moved to say something, but he was unable to utter a syllable.

Duo smiled and sat on his desk before the gawking teenagers. "Does anyone know what that was?" No one spoke. "I didn't think so." A few looked offended, and he could tell they had read every text from poets, pay writes, prophets, and novelists- the know-it-alls.

"Its actually from a movie." Duo noted. "It's from a moving called The Cavalcade that came out in… I dunno… somewhere between 2010 and 2020."

Immediately someone spoke up from the back, "That's not creative writing, Mr. Maxwell." A strong voice piped. "It's not even a classic."

Duo made a rude noise at her, and stuck his tongue out. "Who the hell made you boss, huh? You're hardly an expert on what is classical or not."

"Even if it was." The voice said. "It sure has nothing to do with creative writing."

Duo's violent orbs gravitated to the girl, sitting in the back, next to the aloof and apparently incensed Sara Dominique, Gavin's older sister. The argumentative girl was blonde, with an overly round voice, and an upturned nose, and she was glaring at him with a look akin to the vocal 'you have no idea what you're doing.'

"Well for your information" Duo began aggressively. "It does. The script itself is creative writing, and it happened to be a book before it was turned into a movie. But the book wasn't all that good. The movie however-"

"That doesn't make it classical." She rebuffed with a snotty snort.

Duo narrowed his eyes dangerously, "It's classical, because I say so, so shut up- Because I say so." People laughed, and she shrunk in her chair, the helium gone from her bloated head.

_Ah… victorious_. Duo thought. "I thought I would take a different approach to this class, instead of jumping strait into work. I thought maybe we could have a go at this movie. So tomorrow I will bring it in, and afterward, we'll have a discussion… followed by something." _Something? Whatever that something is._

----Adv. Creative Writing minutes later **Open Discussion**----

"Sheesh, Mr. Maxwell! Do you just sit in front of the tube at home at vegetate? Don't you have a life?" Some student asked.

Duo laughed shallowly, "Maybe a little now, but no, these movies… I've seen every _one_ of them a thousand and seven times."

A male sitting against the wall was shaking his head, his face sluggish. "Why?"

"I used to work at a garage! The old men there, especially one who I called Pops, would play movies like that all the time. Every TV and speaker in the hangar, or shop would be playing them. It was a bum mechanic's-"

The blonde from earlier sat at attention her eyes wide and disbelieving, "But why would you do something like that?"

"What do you mean?"

Gavin shook his head, "I think she means: Why would you work somewhere like that?"

Duo laughed again, "As a mechanic? For money." Another look of disbelief from the round face blonde in the back, "Hey, look, not everyone has loads of money. Me? Naw, I was always poor. I worked hard to get where I am in life, even though it may not have always seemed like it, I worked for everything."

"So you worked to pay for school so you could teach us?" The girl queried confused.

"Sure." Duo responded good-humouredly. "And while I worked fixing suits-"

"Suits? Like… _mobile suits_…" The sluggish guy was rapt. "War suits… real suits?"

"What's your name?" _Shit, I forgot to take roll call. Everyone here? Why not!_

The boy pointed at himself then glanced around, "Lionel, Sir." Lionel smiled. "A mechanic who worked on suits…" His voice was dreamy and distant. "I've always wanted to be a mechanic."

Lauren King, a young woman from base class wiggled her nose, her eyes cool and aloof. "What a looser vocation, why would you want to do that? We're the best." She said looking around, her dirty brown hair following her face as she scanned the class. "We're prodigies. We're the best. Our parents send us here so we can be something, and when I say something… I don't think it would be some filthy grease monkey."

_I can't believe someone actually thinks that! _Duo was brisling; she had been relatively non-existent until now. She was quiet and hadn't bothered to make herself known. Obviously the thought of working for a living was so appalling that she couldn't hold herself back any longer.

Defused, Lionel looked away to hide his embarrassment, and Duo became furious. "Lauren, shut up." He growled, "There is nothing wrong with working hard for a living, there is nothing wrong with having passion for something, and there is _nothing wrong_ with not letting your awe of simple things die." He paused thoughtfully, "However…" He drawled, "There is something wrong with spoilt children who denounced the people who make their parents so rich and powerful. Grease monkeys? Filthy? Without them…who would fix the vehicles that parade your parent's prestigious soldiers around? Without those fix-it-men, men like me… There would be no soldiers to fight wars to help your parents impress themselves upon civilians."

Lauren's eyes became frozen slits in her face, but she sat silenced.

"So just shut up before you run your mouth before me."

With the room silenced, the sound of a chair being pushed back was like nails on a chalkboard, "Who are _you_…" Came Sarah's irate voice, "to tell her to shut up! What would you know you bigheaded, idiot. How dare you presume to know a damn thing, filth, moron, faggot!!" Duo observed her closely her outburst was unexpected. "What sort of imbecile would hire someone like you? Huh? I don't ever want to hear you tell a girl to shut up again, not in front of my, or my father will have something to say about this. I swear"-Duo cut her short and to the quick.

"Here let me make it thrice, Shut up." Duo said, his temperament that was becoming curdled and vile in his throat. It tasted strangely like impatience and anger. "Don't tell me what to do." Gavin became a frozen figure in his line of site.

"Filthy disgusting money." Sarah pursued vilely. "Lauren is right. People like you… couldn't understand what it is like to be us. You…" Her eyes darted to Lionel, "And you" then to her brother, "And you! You are beneath the air that we breathe. Despicable."

Duo sighed and smiled. "Sarah, get out of my classroom."

Sarah shoved her seat into the desk, bumping the blonde who had sat at her side. "Gladly." She hissed, her proverbial ears thrown back.

Then the bell rang, and Sarah was lost in a crowed of neutral students, and in the blur, Duo saw the two ostracized boys, one humiliated, the other fighting tears. Neither boy moved as the classroom ended.

"Don't worry guys." Duo said shrugging. "Girls will be girls." He said carefully, remembering Gavin's outburst the other day.

"Stop." Gavin whispered, standing up and moving towards the door. "You don't know what you're doing." The small boy was effaced in the throng in the hall, gone from Duo's sight.

----The Courtyard **Beautiful Stranger**---

Officially it was the end of the day, and Wufei heard classes let out like muted bells, liberated students releasing into the corridors beyond the garden walls. Duo would be done teaching, and would be probably heading off to his office. Maybe Wufei should go see him?

Wufei regretted the aberrant thoughts bitterly, and brushed them off. Without just cause, Wufei didn't want to see Duo just now. Not in the least.

The eerie omniscient feeling of being watched burned, and Wufei's body went rigid in defense. His dark eyes lessened into a dangerous glare as he glanced around.

No one.

Wufei settled back an inch, and breathed. Someone _was_ there he could _sense_ it. It tingled the sensitive flesh of the back of his neck, his hair standing at attention. Someone was there for sure.

Then that someone spoke, soft, and dramatic, if even a bit melodically someone spoke his name. "Wufei Chang. Chang, Wufei. Yes? It's Chinese isn't?"

"I'm not Chinese." Wufei responded, imploring the visitor to approach within sight.

Mika rounded a corner to Wufei's left, the opposite direction in which he was starring. "Oh? I'm sorry Wufei, my bad. I meant no offence."

"No, none taken." Wufei forced the words from his lips in a cordial manner, he felt off balance, and the site of the fiery red head amongst the deepest color of roses was a brazenly spectacular vision to behold. A misty haze of awe consumed him, much like the memories of his mother, or more recently the vision of watching Duo sing while playing a few off note keys on a piano at a Preventer function a couple years back. The night Duo left with Hero, earth bound, but destination unknown.

Mika stopped in front of the bench where Wufei sat "What are you doing out here alone, Wufei?"

In utter quiet Wufei rose from his seat, starring unabashedly at Mika's sharp features. Something so out of place, something so odd, he was like a rose amongst weeds here at Inganno Academy, he looked so different than his father he was prominent and wild grace that was preternatural

"Wufei?"

Why would someone want to harm something so gentle? His voice was velvety.

"Wufei?"

It was his job to protect this boy.

"Wufei?"

No… this _man_. Anger engulfed him like the consuming flames devouring wild brush. How could people continue to destroy innocent life? Children. People like him, Wufei supposed cynically, if it was necessary to complete his initial objective he would pull the cold trigger of his gun and let a bullet rip through the young life than obstructed his path.

"Wufei, answer me." Mika demanded.

The authoritive tone jarred Wufei's mind. "Huh?" He mumbled.

"Beautiful." Mika whispered starring at him intensely as he leaned in, the exquisite fabric of his button down shirt grazing his chest. "Beautiful and Perfect."

Wufei focused his eyes, "What are you talking about? What is?"

As if it pained him, Mika wrenched his eyes away from Wufei and turned his eyes to the roses branching up towards the sky. "This place, the roses."

_That's funny_, Wufei thought, _I could have sworn…_

Mika looked at him sharply, daringly, cutting off Wufei's inner-monologue. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was going to read during my break, but instead decided to absorb the scenery." _Why am I telling you this?_

"I see. Well break is over, Wufei."

Wufei raises his eyebrow, his feathers ruffled. "I gathered that by the bell."

And suddenly there it was, a brilliant smile with no comparison, another complex facet of Mika. "Good to know you aren't an idiot. How about we go for a walk? I am going to go meet Dex out by the gate and we're going to go run a couple of errands. I would love for you to come. Maybe meet a few of my friends." He added with a confident nod.

_Yes, the mission. _"Yes, I would like that." Wufei replied, and the two headed back toward the passage entry.

----------------?----------------

_Fingernails scratched his skin and trailed across his groin against his thighs, a haggard shudder tore from his parted lips and his body arched. Two hands pressed his hips back down, an tsking noise chastising his lack of control. _

---The Halls of Inganno Academy----

Duo shuffled along the polished floors celebrating a one-man celebration, a pity party. A teacher? This wasn't the role for him, he wasn't teaching material. He barely could learn himself, how could Une think he was capable? _Wait_, _she _didn't, he intruded in on the boardroom and forced him-self upon the mission. A sweet escape, nothing like violence could cure personal problems, or at least sweep you away in a river of power that could erase all traces of mental dilemma.

_I wonder what Heero would think if he saw this? If he could laugh, he'd laugh me right off campus and in front of a big red truck._ Scarcely beginning the mission, and already his rampant emotions were complicating things. _Just a liability!_ _I'm no good and this camouflage shit; I'm more of the wham-bam-kick-your-ass-I'm-done kinda man. _

In an odd way, Duo was beginning to cheer himself up. _Yeah, exactly! Kick your ass kinda man. And that's what I am gonna do. Kick ass. _

Duo grinned broadly, all he would have to do is keep in check. He'd start by talking to Wufei about basic game plans, and then he'd report to Lady Une._ Yeah, Rock n' roll, and kiss some ass._ Duo looked up, and then tripped into a locker.

"Oh my God, Mr. Maxwell are you okay!?" Came an urgent voice.

"Fuck." Duo hissed crouching down and rubbing his sore knee. "Fuck." Slowly, Duo's eyes moved upward to the slacked-jawed face of one of his students gawking at him.

Gavin was starring at him in shock, his eyes saucers of disbelief. Next to him, stood Darryl indifferent to the ass before him.__

Duo laughed sheepishly, eager to forget his 15 seconds of fame. "Hi guys." He fumbled.

"Hi." Gavin said.

"Hey, look Gavin, I'm-"

Gavin shook his head and put up a hand, "Don't worry about it… _Duo_, it's okay."

It was faintly obvious the Darryl was confused, his eyebrows were knit together, and the proverbial question mark was materializing above his head.

Gavin smiled reassuringly, and Darryl tugged him forward. "Let's go." He grumbled.

Ahead, right in front of Darryl a hallway door swing open into the hall, unlike other doors that swung out. Duo's carriage leveled, and he reached out a hand as if to grab them. "Hey! Watch-"

The door hit Darryl, and bumped Gavin. "Watch it." Darryl snarled as the invaders became visible.

A curtain of muteness fell around the five sole occupants of the passage and Duo watched the event pass in a fascinated sort of dumbness.

"Oh! Mr. Maxwell." Duo barely acknowledged Anne as she rushed him down the hall. "We're having an urgent Teacher meeting, and it's horrible, you must come. I'm so glad I found you. There is some young lady and her father-"

Mika Thret stood like a dark cloud on one side of the line, and Darryl Albin an irate blizzard on the other. Caught amidst the raging tempest was Gavin, in quiet horror, and Wufei ensconced in silence to observe the trespass.

Duo struggled lightly to keep eyed on the event, but nothing could stop Anne who drug him through a door, the last thing Duo heard was Mika's reproach.

"No." Came the final silken reprimand, and Mika hooked arms with Wufei and pulled the ex-pilot between Gavin and Darryl, shoving either or in opposite directions. As small as Gavin was, he stumbled and fell on his rear, but gave no hint of distress.

"Hey!" Darryl roared grabbing Wufei by the shoulder and whirring him around in a move akin to a mobster movie. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, _Chink_ Wufei."

--- Teacher Assembly Room **Anger Management**---

Duo was still mourning his departure when he came face to face with a pristine white door with the letters **T.A.R.: Designated Faculty Only** embossed on the front.

"It's the Teacher's Assembly Room!" Anne informed him quietly, her happy demeanor left back in the hall with Wufei. "It's very serious. Lots of trouble." She murmured. "Apparently… one of your students contacted her father at his office a short ways away, and he immediately rushed over. He's furious… Mr. Andrews is the Dean Morley's close friend. This could be _very_ bad."

"I bet." Duo intoned.

Anne frowned deeply, "I suggest you keep heart, the Dean is fiercer than he looks. Okay then?" Duo nodded. "Okay." Reaching forward, Anne opened the door and moved forward into a brightly illuminated room.

In the center of the Assembly Room was a long wooden table, stained a dark brown, with rows of chairs on whichever side. A larger more impressive chair was seated at the head of the table; in it sat a beast of a man. His forehead was large, his gray eyebrows bushy like two caterpillars above his ice gray eyes, and his long tousled silvery hair was yanked back into a low ponytail that disappeared between his back and the chair. Moreover, he was solid and short, with a well-trimmed goatee.

Instantly Duo felt terrified.

A fleet of O.Z.'s A-string Aeries mobile suits couldn't scare him, even if they were lead by Zech's Marquise. Yet this little man was more horrifying than anything Duo had ever encountered, worse than Lady Une during that time of the month, or Heero when-

"That will be all, Anne, thank you." Duo's only connection made her-self scarce, shutting the door behind her. "Mr. Maxwell." The Dean Morley said. "Please sit."

Duo went forward and boldly pulled out a chair directly to the Dean's right. "Thanks." Duo grumbled, and slouched down into his seat.

"Mr. Maxwell, I've heard much about you already, and I daresay that that is never a good sign. Though none of the words that have been shared have been bad…" Duo let out a sign of relief. "Until now."

"Mr. Maxwell, I would like you to meet Mr. Andrews, he is the father of two of your students." Dean Morley gestured heavily to a man standing at the window, his brown eyes cast out over the grounds. "Mr. Andrews has been a friend of mine for many years, and to this day we have handled our business quandary as if they were our personal tribulations to be resolved immediately. He has trusted our my school with his children, Sarah, and Gavin, and in turn I have trusted them to you."

Duo bit his tongue and found himself feeling agitated by these formalities, "Hi." Duo was all he had, but still the figure silhouetted by the window would not turn to face the teacher of his brood.

"Today," The Dean continued in his booming voice, "I have been faced with an issue that merits my personal attention. _You_. The allegations are the following: You have increasingly disrespectful behavior towards your students, you use inappropriate language towards your students, and spout sexist phrases that subjectively humiliate the female portion of your student body, and have singled out one such female as the target of your abuse. That girl happens to be my dearest friend's daughter, Sara. Now before I open this discussion for comments, I demand you keep a mindful-tongue while speaking before me and with Mr. Andrews. This will not be recorded, and everything spoken shall stay in _this_ room, between _us_ three men." The Dean paused briefly as if to think. "Please, Randy, if you have something to say get it off your chest already."

At length the man at the window turned around, a lengthy man in his early 50s with sandy gray hair, and colorless eyes. He stood watching Duo with an uninterruptible gaze in a pressed black suite and black tie. Mr. Randolph Andrews took Duo back to a day a long time ago that he had been sitting inside of a hangar watching DeathSythe's resurrection to the living and reading a black and white comic about men in suites.

Finally a small amount of recognition filled those blank eyes, and the man turned his head inquisitively at Duo. Mr. Andrews had seen Duo before, but where? The man who sat before him looked much different than the baby faced boy who gallivanted through space in his mobile suite fighting wars, but several attributes were still the same. The hair, the eyes…

"Mr. Maxwell." Randolph regarded coldly.

"Hi." Duo said again.

---The Front Gate of Inganno Academy **Boys**---

Wufei kept several paces behind Mika, his mind lost in thought again. He had seen Duo in the hall, hadn't he? Who was the woman who pulled him away? Was it important? It was going to be hard to get to understand Darryl and Mika's relationship no that there was tension. Back in the corridor, Mika and Wufei blatantly ignored Darryl's outburst as if it were but a childish tantrum.

Mika glanced bag at Wufei. "Don't give a second piece of mind to Albin. He's a low life." He said matter-of-factly. "How pathetic a guy to reduce himself to racial slurs. Don't you think, Wufei?"

"Yes." Wufei agreed not wholly listening.

"He is nothing in my sight." Mika said, a malignant snarl in his voice, but Wufei had returned his mind and wasn't listening once more. "I'll crush him, someday… Someday… Someday…He's nothing, always has been nothing, and I'll see to it he stays that way."

Wufei glanced up catching the whiff of Mika's tone. What was it he was saying?

---------------------------

Dexter anxiously watched cars whiz by, his eyes darting from his left to his right following each vehicle. Where the hell was Mika? He said he was just going to go change his clothes and take care of a quick interest and would be out in ten minutes max. Dexter looked at his watch, it was exactly 17 minutes later and Mika was _still_ not there.

Rubbing his eyes he casually turned his thoughts to the summer that had gone by all to fast. It had been horrific, but… Mika had been there every night afterward to hold him. The moment in his mind brought a smirk to his face, and he suddenly felt less nervous. Yes, he should trust Mika, Mika Maeko Thret had given Dex everything he needed, had given him options when he was down and dirty, and then lent a hand to clean him up afterward. Like always. Mika would come through, like always.

Ordained by his words, Mika became visible on the black paved path from the school, and Dex's heart leapt self-assuredly. He _knew_ it. Mika would _never _let him down.

"Yo Mika!" He hollered waving his hand.

Mika waved back.

"What took you so long!?" And then Dex saw the Chinese guy who had been looming around like a nasty shadow. "Uh. I-ya… Hullo Wufei!" Dex managed, thought it came out a little stuttered and mumbled.

Wufei nodded. "Hello Dex."

Dexter nodded in return, and glanced between the two.

"Sorry it took so long, we slipped through some slime in the halls."

"S'cuse me?" Dexter laughed. "You ran into Darryl? Doesn't that maggoty freak have a life?"

"Other than me? No." _And who does?_

Fidgeting in his school uniform, Wufei blinked a few times. The anxiety between Darryl, Mika, and Dexter was worrisome. There was something, but what? A past? A connection, of course.

"S'okay, let's just hit the road. Where to Mika? What are our plans?"

Mika itched the tip of his nose, and then put his hands theatrically on his hips. "I suppose that we shall go out to lunch, and then to the shopping center, do a little gamming, and then… we can go…" Mika looked around. "Dancing, I guess." Dexter paled considerably at the suggestion. "Why might as well make a night of it, and Dex, don't you have business at the club anyways?"

Dex starred modestly at his feet, "I guess."

As the three began walking into town, Wufei could have sworn Dexter's face had flushed red, but every tine he tried to get a closer look the boy would turn his face away, or walk a little faster.

**---T.A.R.**---

"I _still_ find it intolerable that you have such a young ill-tempered educator aboard staff. His credentials are less than admirable, his schooling is second rate, and methods aren't even sanctioned by the academic programmers. Frankly, Gavin, I am disappointed in this situation."

_Gavin?_ Duo sat still his eyes blankly on the table surface as he listened half-heartedly.

"Randy…" Dean Gavin Morley sighed. "I can completely understand, but for now we're going to have to leave it at a verbal warning. We will take severe action should this continue, until then…" He grumbled looking to Duo. "We will pray that the hand selected staff here not leave us disenchanted in the near future."

"It bloody better not." Mr. Andrews hissed. "I will not have my daughter's image smeared by some dim-witt."

"Rest assured my friend, I will personally keep an eye on Mr. Maxwell. I'm confident he won't let us down."

Randy Andrews set a firm glare in Duo's direction, then swept up his suitcase and briskly stalked to the door. "I won't be so lenient if there is even an inkling of an incident occurring again. I will sweep the children out of here faster than you could blink. Be weary of this, Gavin." Andrews paused. "I must be off, I'm not here for leisure. I am a busy man."

"Of _course_," The Dean said. "Until next time then, Randy. Our next meeting will be far less taxing."

"Yes." Mr. Andrews nodded, and then shoved off through the door continuing his haste pace.

The Dean waited briefly, and then let out a puff air. "Mr. Maxwell, when I hear the word incognito… one would think that you would be more inconspicuous than this."

Duo sat up rigidly, "Huh?"

"I will have to contact Lady Une about this, but really…" He huffed.

"Wait, what?"

"Return to your duties." The Dean dismissed.

"Wait!"

"How did I know about you? You would think your Chief would have a partial brain enough to give your aliases before arrive on the scene. It wasn't hard to find out who you were, really. A lot has been done to your file. 'Light military work?" The Dean laughed hard and loud. "Okay." He said sobering suddenly. "Get out, go about your business, and let this be the last I hear from you."

Duo wobbled out in a daze. He had thought they were being sneaky…

---Later **Under a Rock**---

It was late when Duo, exhausted, finally stumbled through the door of his apartment. His eyes were nothing but swimming orbs in his head, glossed over in his half-sleep state. The empty room was dark, thick blackness coating his things in a nearly tangible film, retreating and then casting itself again as his voice mail's alert button blinked.

"Honey… I'm home…" He whimpered tenderly to the nothingness that awaited him, and sunk pathetically down into the small wooden chair next to phone. 4 Messages. 5 Calls. Feebly he whomped the button and got up to get undressed.

Duo loosened his tie. "You had five missed calls, and four messages. First message sent at 3:15 pm: 'Hi Duo, this is Quatre! Give me a call when you get this, nothing important, just seeing how _things_ are.'"

"Second message sent at 4:47 pm: 'Hello Mr. Maxwell, my name is Dr. Mimi Ruumi and I am a staff member at the education facility in which you work. If you would kindly return this call… I would like to have a few words with you.'" _What the fuck_… Duo thought tearing down the buttons on his shirt, _I was at school then finishing up my paper for that stupid slap on the wrists, and setting up lesson plans so they could be approved from now till I die._

"Third message send at 8:01 pm: Hi again Duo, this is Quatre. Just calling again to see if you were home, obviously your not… so I am just gonna leave you a brief message. I have to fly to L1 for some business tomorrow afternoon with my nephew Erique, and if you have some time, let's go for coffee and doughnuts tomorrow evening. Okay, talk to you later! Erm…Bye!'" Duo laughed hollowly at his friend. T_hat was _way _too chipper for Quatre; _he unzipped his slacks, and slipped his belt through the waist loops letting his pants fall to his ankles.

Duo hooked his thumbs in the elastic band of his boxer shorts and took a refreshing breath, his spine cracked with an audible _POP_. "Fourth message sent at 9:13 pm: 'Maxwell, this is your mother. You haven't called me. Give me a call immediately.'" _WHAT THE HELL!?_ Duo barked out an obnoxious laugh at Lady Une's attempt to be discreet. His mother? If he had a mother somewhere out there he sure in the hell didn't want her to be lady Une.

Mournfully Duo's eyes searched out a clock, he had gratefully missed Lady Une's call by eleven minutes and counting. She could wait till morning. His eyes continued to rake the depressing scenery, nothing, and no one. Alone. Again. "Heero…" He whispered, his mind reaching difficultly for someone else. "You ass." He wasn't sure which of the two men he was referring to; he stole a glance at the clock quickly.

Wasn't Wufei supposed to call and meet him somewhere? If he was going to insist on being royal pain, Duo would have to come up with something quick. If Wufei wouldn't come to him, Duo would force him.

Force…

Weakly, Mr. Maxwell dropped down onto his coach, asleep even before he allowed himself the comfort of relaxing.

----------------?----------------

_Finally, he broke. He needed to be touched, to be filled. "Please…"_

_"How pathetic you are…" was the only response before the warmth lifted off of him and left him in the bleak chilling air of his bedroom._

---**L-3**, _Preventers HQ_----

Trowa had yet to visit his apartment and change and yet every time he glowered at the clock and the small hand ebbed towards Midnight, he felt no yearning for clean clothes or a shower. He wanted to work and drown out his thoughts.

Damn it. It wasn't working.

Out of sheer desperation Trowa had stopped Lady Une in the hall and requested to be sent out on a field mission. "No." Was all she had said before she side stepped him and entered her office. He wanted to follow her and scream. He was going crazy being cooped up inside the office and filing paperwork like a secretary.

Next he asked her if he could take a leave of absence and go see Quatre. Instead of a crisp denial, he was gifted with a look that he had sworn murdered the vase of flowers on her desk, and took that as a no as well.

Trowa leaned back in his simple desk, his eyes dazed. Without sleep his concentration was shot. His eyes lazily wondered to each side, down to his paper, to a body looming in his doorway, to the clock, to his paperwork again, and then finally gravitated back to the person standing in the entryway to his office in a fine example of a double take.

"Heero?"

----------------The end----------------

**Responses to Unregistered Reviewers**

-I wish I could thank you all over e-mail, but I understand the desire for anonymity! So…

**Drag-on-Queen** – I appreciate your considerations, but I don't claim to know what it's like to be a gay man, as a lesbian female… it's a curiosity for me that I find erotic… in writing. This is just my fantasy world, my writing, and a place to escape to and create. I'm sorry you feel so hostile towards it, and fellow writers of the yaoi fandom.

Me – LoL! Another shout out for 2/5! Me, thanks for your support, I am glad I have your attention! I hope I don't disappoint you! I do plan on continuing this story until the end! 

**Freefall** - hides horribly embarrassed you're too kind Freefall, I don't deserve a reader such as yourself! Duo and Wufei have an odd relationship as of yet, and I hope it develops into something much more complex. Especially with Heero _now _on the scene! Then again, we'll have to wait and see what goes on… And I'll try and keep up the excellence! -

**S.Maldiva** – S. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed! I'm immensely pleased with how many people are loyal/fan enough to give other fan-writers the time of day! As for Wufei and his issue with being Chinese… that's apart of an up coming side-story! There are many pieces that may not make sense as of yet, but will as the story unfolds. I hope I don't loose anyone over that! Good question, thank you!


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